Nellore: The underground drainage scheme for Nellore estimated at a cost of Rs 580.85 crore may be further delayed because of the state government’s decision to carry out a vigilance inquiry.
The state government had stopped releasing funds since October last year and the works of the Hudco funded scheme came to a grinding halt from June this year. The state government now owes nearly Rs100 crore to the contract firm L&T.
Incidentally 83 per cent of the work has been completed and the scheme can be commissioned if the balance 17 per cent work is finished but there is no word from the government over the release of funds.
Meanwhile L&T is ready to complete the work even if 50 per cent of its dues are released since they intend to shift the manpower to another location, a civic body official said. As per the schedule the scheme that was launched in September 2016 should have been completed by September 2019 but this seems to be an impossible task in the present circumstances.
Moreover the contract firm has already communicated to the municipal administration department over the escalating project cost since October last year but the officials concerned have been rejecting the proposal under one pretext or other.
An engineering official in Nellore civic body said the outstanding dues to L&T was `33 crore by October last year and by June this year, the dues had risen to `60 crore.
He said a people's representative in Nellore had brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy last month and the latter had reportedly directed the department concerned to assess the status and take necessary action without loss of time.
But so far nothing concrete has happened, he added. The pending work include a 40-km long pipeline laying work and construction of one sewage treatment plant at Kondayapalem in Nellore city.
When contacted, state irrigation minister Dr P. Anilkumar Yadav said they had ordered for a vigilance inquiry and would commence the work after receiving the report.
Mr Yadav also said that they had also ordered for the release of Rs. 33 cr. towards outstanding payment of L & T.
