ORR lease issue: Revanth Reddy sees red over legal notice served on him

Revanth Reddy, through his advocate, replied to the legal notice sent by IAS officer Arvind Kumar regarding the ORR lease issue

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy has warned that civil and criminal proceedings will be taken against IAS officer Arvind Kumar if he does not withdraw the legal notices served on him on May 25 in the matter related to Outer Ring Road (ORR) lease.

On Tuesday, Mr. Revanth Reddy, through his advocate, replied to the legal notice sent by Mr. Arvind Kumar regarding the ORR lease issue.

“Mr. Arvind Kumar is Principal Secretary of Municipal Department, Metropolitan Commissioner and having other important responsibilities. There are service rules about how IAS officers should act and perform their responsibilities. But Arvind Kumar is acting as a politician without following those rules and not giving the information asked for,” said Mr. Revanth Reddy, adding that according to All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968, an IAS officer should act neutrally without political motives.

“But Arvind Kumar is speaking on behalf of the ruling party. Half of Nehru ORR falls under Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency, which I represent as MP. Even though there is a possibility of getting a higher income, without thinking about it, the government’s income has been compromised and the ORR toll collection tender has been awarded to IRB for 30 years for just ₹7,380 crore. Moreover, all the rules were arbitrarily violated in the course of awarding the IRB tender,” said the Congress MP, stating that the HMDA Master Plan will end in 2031. If it is leased for 30 years and the master plan changes after 2031, it will cause problems, he opined.

“No road in the country has been given more than 15-20 years on tender. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has suggested that the tender period should be 15-20 years instead of a long period of 30 years. The tender was fixed for 30 years without even considering the objections of NHAI. Contrary to the rules, a retired officer was appointed in place of the IAS officer and the ORR tender process was completed. HMDA was replaced by HGCL (Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited) while the tender process continued,” said Mr. Revanth Reddy, alleging that there was no response from Mr. Arvind Kumar, whom they requested many times to disclose the base price related to the ORR tender.

“Regarding the traffic on ORR, the report of the assessors evaluating the value of the tender is also not being placed in the public domain. All this strengthens the suspicions that something has happened in the tendering process. Without answering the information asked for, Mr. Arvind Kumar is launching a counter attack like a politician. All the allegations against me in the legal notice are false. The legal notice sent by Arvind Kumar is against the spirit of democracy,” said the TPCC president and made it clear that he will continue to fight on behalf of the people even if he is given a notice.