How YSR favoured "Satyam" Raju: The CAG view

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, doled out “undue benefit” to the tune of Rs 165.75 crore to erstwhile Satyam Computers Limited by allotting 50 acres of prime land at a throwaway price.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, in its latest report submitted to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, while castigating the Congress government on this land deal, observed: “This transaction was violative of the constitutional provisions of equality of opportunity and did not meet the requirement of transparency.”
The state government allotted 50 acres of land to Satyam Computers near Visakhapatnam in December 2008 at a concessional rate of Rs 10 lakh per acre. Satyam was actually entitled to get only 7.5 acres at concessional rate and the rest at market value (Rs 4 crore to 4.55 crore an acre).
“As against Rs 170 crore payable, Satyam paid a meager amount of Rs 4.25 crore. The allotment of land in excess of the limits prescribed in the Information and Communications Technology Policy resulted in an undue benefit of at least Rs 165.75 crore to the company,” the CAG said in the report.
The CAG also found fault with the Rajasekhara Reddy administration over awarding the work related to development of Machilipatnam Port to Maytas-led consortium, which caused a financial liability of Rs 335 crore on the government.
The port was originally proposed to be developed at Gogileru but later the location was shifted to Gilakaladinne. “The government failed to insist on financial bids for both the locations. The additional cost of Rs 335 crore claimed by the consortium suffers from a major deficiency of vitiating the tender process in that the port was to be developed on a revenue-sharing basis with zero investment by the government. Acceptance of the bid from the firm was objectionable as it did not submit any bid originally for Gilakaladinne,” the CAG noted.
But the government not only agreed to the payment of Rs 335 crore in January 2008 but also handed over 412.57 acres of land to the consortium in September 2008, the CAG added.