Bengal project by YSRCP MP firm faltered, group gave Rs 46 crore in poll bonds to TMC

This was the only time the two companies donated to the TMC. Records show that Madhya Pradesh Waste Management also purchased Rs 25 lakh in electoral bonds for the BJP in May 2019.

Separately, Chennai Green Woods donated Rs 50 crore to the BRS in April 2022 and Rs 15 crore to the Congress in October 2023.

The Kolkata project in question was the “Design, construction, operation – maintenance of 22 MGD water treatment plant (WTP), reservoir, transmission mains and pumping stations” in New Town.

With an original value of $30.38 mn, the contract was awarded in 2018-19 by the West Bengal Public Health Engineering Department (WBPHED), under a project assisted by Asian Development Bank, to a joint venture by Reddy’s Hyderabad-based Ramky Infrastructure Ltd and Mumbai-headquartered Furnace Fabrica India Limited (FFIL).

Following a series of Covid lockdowns in 2020, FFIL ran into financial trouble and, according to former employees, several of its staff joined Ramky Infrastructure to resume the New Town project.

“The work came to a halt and the project got stuck due to administrative complications in handing over the contract solely to the active arm of the JV. Ultimately, PHED transferred the project to us and work resumed in January 2022,” said a Ramky official.

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) records show FFIL went into insolvency in November 2023. Asked about the water treatment project, Gautam De, former head of of FFIL’s Kolkata operations, declined to comment.

Asked when and how the WTP contract was transferred to Ramky Infrastructure, following the exit of FFIL, an ADB spokesperson in New Delhi asked to contact “the Executing Agency”, WBPHED.

Subhashis Dutta, chief engineer (civil) with WBPHED and in charge of the ADB project, declined to comment.

WBPHED minister Pulak Roy said he was “busy in the election campaign” and directed queries to WBPHED principal secretary Surendra Gupta. Gupta’s office acknowledged requests for comment from The Indian Express but did not respond.  “We have nothing to say,” Ayodhya Rami Reddy told The Indian Express over phone. Yancharla Ratnakar Nagaraja, managing director of Ramky Infrastructure, did not respond to requests for comment.

Ayodhya Rami Reddy was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from the YSRCP in 2020. Records by Registrar of Companies show that of the two Hyderabad companies that purchased the poll bonds in favour of TMC, Madhya Pradesh Waste Management is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Ardha Holding Pvt Ltd in which Reddy owns a 93.5 per cent stake. In April 2022, Madhya Pradesh Waste Management issued Non-Convertible debentures under an Inter Corporate Deposits (ICD) agreement to Ayodhya Rami Reddy for Rs 153 crore. While donating Rs 6 crore to the TMC in January 2022, the company recorded a net profit of Rs 1.73 crore in 2021-22 and a loss of Rs 7.44 crore in 2022-23.

The other Hyderabad company, Chennai Green Woods Pvt Ltd, is owned 100 per cent by Ramky Integrated Township Ltd, and was set up in Bangalore as TSI Tech Park (Pune) Pvt Ltd in 2006.

While donating Rs 40 crore to TMC, Chennai Green Woods recorded net losses of Rs 14.15 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 22.25 crore in 2022-23.