the mother-of-all-scams at the state level, YSR’s Jalayagnam Rs 90,000 crore let’s-all-loot scam YSR’s Jalayagnam will surely rank up there along with the 2Gs and Coalgates. In 2004, YSR launched perhaps the most ambitious water project in the country with the idea of lifting the flood waters of the Krishna and Godavari rivers to quench the thirst of two crore residents and provide irrigation to 100 lakh acres of arid and dryland in the state. Most of the irrigation projects were undertaken in Rayalseema and Telangana – both now part of the vortex of the struggle for separate statehood. Nearly half (Rs 90,000 crore) of the total estimated amount of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was spent in nine years. With precious little to show for it. Firstpost investigations reveal that much of the money went to the politician-contractors in the state! YSR’s government was busy raising the number of projects from an initial 26 to 86. As many as 11 companies belonging to the families of eight MPs, including a Union Minister, and three state MLAs cornered many of the dream Jalayagnam irrigation projects worth over Rs 25,000 crore. Five Congress MPs – Union Textiles Minister Kavuru Samba Siva Rao, T Subbarami Reddy, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Lagadapati Rajagopal and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy – figure in this list of favoured politician-contractors. But one should not accuse YSR or only allowing his own party MPs to feather their nests. Possibly with the idea of keeping opposition criticism low, even TDP MPs – Modugula Venugopala Reddy, Nama Nageswara Rao and CM Ramesh – were also allegedly favoured. The list of favoured politicians includes three Congress MLAs – Adala Prabhakar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and former State Minister Pileru Ramachandara Reddy. Read more at: firstpost/india/jalayagnam-ysrs-rs-90000-crore-lets-all-loot-scam-1094625.html?utm_source=ref_article
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 13:37:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015