AP: Rs 1,300 crore lapses in Jalayagnam

HYDERABAD: As much as Rs 1,300 crore advance money paid to contractors is yet to be recovered by the state government. This was revealed at the public accounts committee (PAC) review meeting here on Monday.According to the information presented by irrigation officials at the meeting, the government paid a mobilisation advance of Rs 3,924.01 crore for as many as 73 irrigation projects under 517 packages. Of this, the principal amount of Rs 2,662.10 crore (with Rs 373.29 crore interest) was recovered so far.There are no proper accounts for the Rs 1,300 crore advanced under the Jala Yagnam, TDP MLA and PAC member Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao said. Officials could not even tell the location of some contract firms, he added.The PAC meting, presided over by its chairman Revuri Prakash Reddy, reviewed recovery of mobilisation advances and also the lapses committed by Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Vijayawada urban development authorities. Uma Maheswara Rao and others asked officials to tell the panel how much money was recovered from contractors out of the mobilisation advances paid to them. "The officials could not even tell the addresses of the companies. They were not in a position to say how they propose to recover the advances," Uma alleged.He said of the Rs 1,300 crore, around Rs 1,000 crore was given before 2009 elections. The then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his advisor KVP Ramachandra Rao were responsible for payment of Rs 1,000 crore for Pranahita-Chevella and Dummugudem project works, he alleged. Even after eight years since Jala Yagnam commenced, the officials could not say how much mobilisation advance was recovered from the first project, Pulichintala, sanctioned under EPC (engineering, procurement and construction). TDP members described EPC as engineers, politicians and contractors who were benefited under Jala Yagnam.The government would pay mobilisation advance to contracting companies and recover the money with interest after completion of the work. But, it was not done in some cases and the arrears amount to Rs 1,300 crore, the opposition members contended.The opposition MLAs said normally a mobilisation advance of 0.5 percent of the total contract value would be paid to companies. But the government paid up to 3.5 percent to some contractors. In the last PAC meeting, MLAs wanted to know why the interest rate to be paid by the contractors was reduced from 10 percent to 8 percent. The officials could not give a reply even in Monday's meeting, but promised to provide the details in the next meeting.Uma Maheswra Rao said when he raised the irregularities in Peda Lanka Kalva works under Krishna delta modernisation programme in the last PAC meeting, the executive engineer, DE, AE and works inspector were placed under suspension. "Taking action against officials is not sufficient. The politicians, involved in the irregularities should be put in jails," he said.