Hyderabad: BRS MLA Harish Rao alleged irregularities in integrated school tenders and accused the state government of inflating costs and skewing allocations.
He said the government placed retired officials in key roles to push decisions in the integrated schools programme. Moreover, he claimed officials grouped four to five schools into single packages to enable manipulation.
According to him, authorities finalised tenders for 76 integrated schools across the state. However, they did not allocate any project to 26 constituencies represented by BRS MLAs. As a result, he termed the exclusions politically driven.
He further alleged that the government awarded contracts to 10 MLAs who shifted from BRS to Congress. In addition, he claimed that some BJP legislators also benefited from the allocations.
Harish Rao said contractors formed a ring and divided projects among themselves. Meanwhile, they quoted bids within a narrow range to avoid scrutiny. He said the bids ranged between 4.59% and 4.96% above estimates.
Integrated school tenders show cost escalation and allocation pattern
He said each project carried an allocation of about Rs 250 crore. He added that civil works alone crossed Rs 150 crore per school.
The total estimate for 76 schools stood at Rs 10,199.54 crore. However, contractors secured projects worth Rs 10,693.55 crore. Consequently, he alleged an excess burden of around Rs 494 crore.
He also pointed to higher excess rates in constituencies represented by key leaders. For instance, Kodangal and Madhira recorded 4.95% excess. Similarly, Huzurnagar, Husnabad, Khammam and Mulugu showed comparable figures.
Warangal East recorded 4.99% excess, while Nalgonda showed 4.87%. He added that Anthole and Vikarabad also reflected higher excess rates.
Harish Rao alleged that a firm named KLSR secured nine contracts, including one in the Chief Minister’s constituency. He further claimed that the Chief Minister used a vehicle registered under the same company.
He contrasted the situation with the previous BRS government. He said earlier projects such as Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha covered all constituencies without bias.
Finally, Harish Rao said the party would raise the issue in the Assembly. He added that he would submit documents to support the allegations.
