Uttam alleges Rs. 85 Cr scam in printing of patta passbooks

Hyderabad : Alleging huge irregularities in printing of Patta Passbooks for farmers, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has demanded a judicial enquiry into the alleged scam of over Rs. 85 crore.

In an informal chat with media persons at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that Rs. 160 has been paid for printing of each patta passbook. The same would have cost only Rs. 50 per passbook if printed elsewhere. He reminded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao had promised that the new patta passbooks would have 26 features including water-proof and tamper proof. However, the present passbooks have no promised features.

The TPCC chief said that the government passbooks were to be distributed from January 26. Later, the date was postponed to March 11 and the President of India or Prime Minister were supposed to be invited for the event. However, now the event is being held on May 10.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the patta passbook scam was of over Rs. 85 crore. He said agencies who quoted lower prices were not allotted the tender. Instead, the company which quoted Rs. 160 per passbook was given the contract. Further, he questioned the government for giving the contract to a private company instead of printing the passbooks in Government Mint Compound which had four printers.

The TPCC chief said that the printing was sub-standard and the same has been pointed out by the Government Security Printing Press.