` 30cr interest paid on phase-iii project BDL CSR funds

Water plant at Nalgonda

Four months after tenders were finalised, not even the foundation stone for the `1,670 crore Krishna phaseIII project has been laid.

The Water Board has also started paying interest on `150 crore, the first instalment of loan it received two months ago from Housing Urban Development Corporation, a Government of India undertaking.

Not an inch of pipeline has been laid for Krishna phase-III and the Water Board has already paid over `30 crore interest on the first instalment of loan. HUDCO had released `150 crore, supposed to be given as “mobilisation advance” to private companies (a consortia) who have been awarded the contract for execution of Krishna phase-III.

Till date, the Water Board has not given mobilisation advance to the contractors Hyderabad: As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, Bharat Dynamics Limited has extended support to Naandi Foundation to provide safe drinking water to the residents of Narayanpur mandal and Peepal Pahad of Choutuppal mandal of Nalgonda district. Dr N.K. Raju, executive director, BDL, inaugurated two reverse osmosis plants on Friday. “Around 63 lakh will be spent on this project,” he said. (consortia) and is paying over `15 crore interest per month on the `150 crore first instalment of the loan.

In all, HUDCO has agreed to extend `1,500 crore loan for Krishna phase-III.

Enquiries revealed that the Board is sitting on the mobilisation advance due to a ‘missive” from the state vigilance and enforcement wing, stating there were many irregularities in utilisation and recovery of mobilisation advance.

As per the tender conditions, the contractors of the 10 packages, into which the project has been divided, are eligible for 10 per cent of the total cost of project.

Sources said that the Krishna phase-III tenders were finalised in December 2012 itself. It was supposed to be completed by March 2014. Going by the current state, this may not happen before the 2014 elections.

The issue has been brought to the notice of CM N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. He is likely to lay the foundation stone for Krishna phase-III next week.

The venue is yet to be finalised.