The expert committee of retired engineers constituted by YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has found large scale irregularities to the extent of over Rs 3,100 crore in the tenders pertaining to Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river.
The committee, which submitted its report to the state irrigation department early this week, observed that the previous Telugu Desam Party government had violated all tender norms in the EPC contract system in the Polavaram head works, besides paying excess amounts to contractors in the packages under Polavaram right and left bank canals.
It also found that the TDP government had paid huge amounts as advance payments to the contractors for construction of Polavaram hydel power project even before handing over the land for the same.
The break-up of the additional payments made to the contractors is: Rs 1,559.65 crore in head works, Rs 787.20 crore in hydel power project, Rs 492.94 crore in left canal and Rs 233.98 crore in the right canal.
The committee recommended that the government recover these additional payments from contractors under Revenue Recovery Act and also suggested reverse tendering of the project works to bring down the project cost.
