Telangana green drive ensnared by scam

Hyderabad: It is evident that the Telangana state government has been ambitious about the Haritha Haaram project, intended to improve greenery in all the 10 districts by planting over 230 crore saplings in three years. According to sources, the same has hit a roadblock. In order to procure crores of polythene covers to supply the saplings, tenders being called. The same has become contentious with contractors forming syndicates to bag the contracts for higher prices.

The government has constituted Haritha Haaram committees in each district with the joint collector as chairman and officials from Forest and Horticulture departments as members to monitor the tender process. It had decided to plant 40 lakh saplings per year in each Assembly constituency, totaling 1.20 crore saplings in each constituency in three years. District-wise tenders had been invited to procure polythene covers.

The companies are bagging the contracts by quoting a price band of Rs 195 to Rs 200 per kg. In spite of the fact that the companies openly forming alliances to bag the contracts for higher prices, the committees have turned a blind eye to check this peril and save public money.

In a commendable effort, however in Medak, the committee headed by the Medak joint collector cancelled the tenders thrice to check the contractors’ syndicate and was successful in bringing down the price from Rs 200 per kg to Rs 181 per kg.

The contract in Adilabad has been finalized for Rs 200 per kg while it remained at Rs 191 per Kg in Nizamabad, added sources.