By: J R Janumpalli
The corruption scenario in andhra pradesh is becoming murkier every day.You touch any scheme,it is full of taint.Any questioning will create a ruckus.The partisan media and the political parties add to the cacophony. The whole issue will be made confusing and a great debate ensues in the public.People also take sides. The show goes on till you get tired.. No solution will be found in the end.
In Jagan’s ‘quid pro quo’ case, it is estimated that about Rs.1100 crores investment is involved. This investment is the corollary of some of the 26 GO’s under question. If the quantum of ‘quid pro quo’ is Rs.1100 crores what could be the worth of public largesse doled out to these beneficiaries by YSR.It definitely will be at least some multiples of this. If we take in to account all such GOs where government and pulic resources are doled out to the ‘corporates’ for ‘development’ either in YSR or CBN regime the estimate would be monumental. For, in the last 25 years, the political corruption in andhra pradesh has graduated at an incredible pace and has reached to its zenith now. Unfortunately most of this fraud had happened on the resources of Telangana.
The CM is the defacto monarch. The cabinet meeting is merely a necessary formality. Only bare minmum details of the Projects are shown in the agenda and minutes. All the cheesy details are worked out by CM and his advisor(s) with the help of the committed CM,s Peshi. Ministers and others concerned are duly taken care.GOs are issued to doleout land, power, water, exemption of reg.charges, other taxes etc.,or whatever govt. largesse is needed/not needed in a lordly fashion. . Even, original companies are changed; foreign ones become desi cos; a desi stake holder ( a dummy waiting in the wings for this purpose) becomes owner of the company increasing his stake dramatically overnight.Nobody will be the wiser,because nobody will be privy to all the info for the project. The roller-coaster run goes on. If the party comes to power again it will ‘micromanage’ the projects. If the opposition comes to power, it would be a ‘quid pro quo’. This is in general the ‘modus operandi’ of A.P. government development model or’Corruption Inc.’
There is no check on the functioning of the state government.Opposition is only interested in its power politics.Unless a big scandal breaks out no body is bothered. The CAG reports are taken very lightly in a routine manner.The CVC,CBI like agencies do not act on their own. Central Government do not use these agencies unless it is forced to, or there is some political compulsion/necessity.The present CBI investigations in the state are due to the direction of Courts not by the government. The CBI is under the leash of the Central government.The investigations in the state by the agency are going on as allowed by the central govt/UPA.
There are a plethora of development projects undertaken by state government both in TDP and Congress regimes,with a great fanfare. Allotment of land to Industries, SEZs, IT Parks,Business Schools, selling of land for several real estate ventures,alloting land in cinema industry, Highway projects, Power projects,Irrigation Projects, mining; providing infrastructure,doling out govt benefits to these projects are beset with the same set of corrupt practices. You touch any one of them, it will be like disturbing a hornet’s nest. All sorts of politics will come into play. It may take several years to reach any semblance of resolution to the issue.
The corruption is all pervasive. There are several projects with mega fraud. The ‘Jalayagnam’ in the state is a mother of all frauds. It is said, Rs.71,600 crores are spent in it.Not a single acre gets additional irrigation.The project involves many monumental politically incorrect, illegal and corrupt practices.yet, it is not getting the necessary attention.There are thousands of acres of benami land in and around Hyderabad under illegal occupation of andhra land mafia.The latest, the GHMC Metro Rail, also has become very controversial. But the details of these projects are under wraps. Even the RTI also will not get the vital details of these projects.People cannot do any thing.Government goes about it with great immunity.
The present Emmar, Jagan investigations will be the same political ‘soap operas’ like any other enacted by our central and andhra governments.These piece meal probes will only serve a limited purpose, mostly political.If we have to find the truth and are looking for justice, we have to probe the implementation of all the GOs issued for all the projects, both by YSR and CBN.That would be a handful and would be impossible in united Andhra Pradesh. Therefore dividing the state to break the stranglehold of this government of ‘Andhra Corruption Inc’ on Telangana is imperative.Then only,it will pave the way for probing the injustices done to Telangana region. It will also usher in a new lease of good governance for the people of Telangana.