Congress challenges KTR to make DPR public

Hyderabad, April 6 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir challenged Panchayat Raj Minister K Tarakarama Rao to place the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Water Grid project in public domain.

Addressing a press conference, along with Deputy CLP leader in Assembly T Jeevan Reddy, in Assembly premises on Monday, Shabbir Ali said that KTR's defensive reaction on questions raised by Congress party over Water Grid project was a proof that large scale irregularities took place in the execution of the project. He reiterated that the project is being executed without any DPR or survey. He sought to know as to how Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and KTR estimated the cost of the project to be Rs 25,000 crore which they later escalated to Rs 40,000 crore. Similarly, on what basis, the TRS Government concluded that it needs 1.26 lakh km of pipe for the project. "Were these figures given by Government Engineers, independent agencies or private contractors?" he asked.

"Instead of giving answers to the simple questions raised by Congress party, KTR started reacting in a panicky manner by leveling counter-allegations. He does not have any answers to the valid questions raised by us and therefore trying to divert people's attention by raising non-issues," Shabbir Ali said while claiming that the Congress has sufficient evidence to prove irregularities in the Water Grid project. He demanded that the State Government convene an all party-meeting on the issue.

Shabbir Ali also furnished some reports of the Central Government which says that more than 72 per cent of the households in Telangana were already connected with piped water supply. Citing the "Strategic Plan 2011-2022" prepared by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation ' Rural Drinking Water of Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, he said that 72.96% of the total population of the then united Andhra Pradesh was covered with Piped Water Supply (PWS) as per the IMIS Data. Similarly, the Centre had proposed to provide PWS to uncovered population at a cost of Rs 10,156 crore. Of this, the Centre had proposed to provide Rs 6,105 crore while the State's share was of just Rs 3,532 crore. After bifurcation, the Telangana Government's contribution to complete the project would have been nearly Rs 1695 crore. However, instead of pursuing the ongoing schemes by spending just Rs 1695 crore, the TRS Government came out with a proposal to waste Rs 40,000 crore of public money, he alleged.

Quoting other reports on the status of Piped Water Supply in the State, Jeevan Reddy challenged KTR to visit any area of the State, including KTR's constituency Sircilla to check the status. He said that the previous Congress regime had already provided piped water supply to almost 80 per cent of the people without wasting any public money. He reiterated that the government could provide safe drinking water to 10,000 villages by setting up purified water plants at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Instead of completing the pending and ongoing projects like Pranahita Chevella, TRS Government is focused on wasting public money, he alleged.