New Delhi: The CBI has examined Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in connection with alleged irregularities in an award of a contract related to civil works done at ESI hospitals. The irregularities have allegedly caused a loss of approximately £600,000 to the government.
It is said that Rao, who was the Union Minister of Labour, Employment and Training in 2006, expressed “special interest” in ensuring that the contract was given to Andhra Pradesh Fisheries Department after cancelling the tender from NBCC, a central agency for the work. When questioned, CBI found that Rao's private secretary wrote to the management of ESI hospitals saying that the minister desired that the contract be taken from NBCC and given to executive engineer V Suryanarayana of AP Fisheries Department “without looking into the rules and regulations”. The contract pertained to minor civil work and maintenance of ESI hospitals in three cities.
Officials said Suryanarayana had written to both, ESIC and Rao, asking that the contract be given to him. “Everything happened very quickly and ESIC was forced to change the contract, which had already been given to NBCC. The minister's letter played an important role in influencing the contract in favour of AP Fisheries,” an official said. IIT-Chennai was reportedly approached to conduct a survey of the work done by AP, and it was found that the work was of substandard quality and failed to satisfy the terms of the £1.9 million contract.
