Venugopal alleges favour to Adani group in awarding road projects in Kerala

On the International Monetary Fund IMF retaining its C grade for Indias national account statistics, including Gross Domestic Product GDP and Gross Value Added GVA, he said, it makes growth numbers doubtful.

Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP K C Venugopal on Monday alleged that the government is favouring Adani group while awarding national highway road projects in Kerala.

Terming it a ''highway scam'', Venugopal said that some of the road projects have been awarded for as high as Rs 45 crore per kilometre.

Citing an example, he said, the project of the Azhiyoo-Vengalam stretch of NH 66 in North Kerala was awarded to Adani Enterprises at Rs 1,832 crore, which was sub-contracted to Wagad Infraprojects, Ahmedabad, for Rs 971 crore, almost half the bid amount.

So, the actual cost was Rs 23.7 crore/km as against Adani's bid of Rs 45 crore/km, he said, adding this loot is legal because it has been designed in such a fashion.

''The scam is not accidental, but it is designed and facilitated by the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) introduced by the Modi government in 2016,'' he said while participating in a debate on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26.

This should be investigated, and public money should not be allowed to be looted in such a manner, he demanded.

Low quality of road construction in Kerala has led to the collapse of some elevated roads; some bridges have collapsed (too), he alleged. Bharat Mala project is running behind schedule, and only 50 per cent is complete after 8 years, as against the scheduled term of 5 years. Talking about the economy, he said the rupee has crossed Rs 90 against a dollar, reflecting the falling dignity of the Indian economy. It is making imports expensive, including crude oil, fertilisers, etc., putting a burden on the common man, he said. On the International Monetary Fund (IMF) retaining its 'C' grade for India's national account statistics, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross Value Added (GVA), he said, it makes growth numbers doubtful. Participating in the debate, Dharmendra Yadav (SP) alleged that the BJP government is working for the big corporates and helping them with loan waiver but not providing any support in terms of waiver to distressed farmers.

He wondered why the government is not implementing the Swaminathan Commission Report on Minimum Support Prices (MSPs).

Yadav sought to know from the government when it will conduct the census and if it will also undertake a caste census.

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