Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) authorities have strongly refuted the corruption charges raised against the project by certain sections and asserted that they were ready for any kind of enquiry.
Addressing a joint press conference on Thursday, HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy and L&TMRH Chief Executive and MD V.B. Gadgil vociferously defended the Metro project, stating it was an internationally competitive bid and not even a single inch of additional land was provided to the concessionaire (L&TMRH) as a special favour other than what was stated in the Concessionaire Agreement (CA).
No transaction
“No money transaction has taken place either during the tendering stage or later. It is not part of our culture or business ethics,” said Mr. Gadgil.
Mr. Reddy too affirmed they were prepared for public scrutiny and charged a section of society of carrying out a deliberate vilification campaign against the project.
Open legal document
The CA was an open legal document and accordingly, 265 acres including 212 acres for the depots and 57 acres for parking and circulation in 25 stations were to be handed over.
Thus far, 210 acres for depots and 34.5 acres for stations were handed over. Following opposition from a students group and others, the government decided to hand over alternative lands at Raidurg and old Gandhi Hospital land in lieu of lands of OU, NIN, Parade Grounds, etc., they said. Rubbishing any hanky-panky in awarding contracts or sub-contracts, Mr. Gadgil said contracts were all awarded to global firms through “most diligent procurement process”.
