Graft during YSR rule in AP was above norm in India: US cable

The YSR government’s ‘flagship programmes’ – construction of irrigation projects and houses for weaker sections – were beset with corruption even as Rajasekhara Reddy used the populist spending programmes to great political effect,the cable said.

”There is consensus in Andhra Pradesh that irrigation and housing programmes are beset with corruption. On separate visits to Hyderabad,we heard allegations of widespread graft from several neutral observers,the consul general said in the cable.

An economist who studies the effectiveness of government programmes in the state said with only ‘four to five companies executing the projects,there were many opportunities for graft in the irrigation programme,’ the consul general said in the cable.

“Typically,five to seven per cent is lost to corruption,but in Reddy’s irrigation programme that figure is more like 15 to 20 per cent,” he said.

While the housing programme will cost $4 to 6 billion,the irrigation programme costs more than $11 billion over five years on 26 major irrigation projects,the US cable said.

The consul general said,”Widespread corruption in the Congress government seems to be an open secret in Andhra Pradesh,but the political impact is unclear. Many elites are disgusted by the level of corruption in the Congress government. The sheer size of Reddy’s signature programmes,with literally billions of dollars at play every year,leaves much room for ‘leakage to Congress party officials and their allies.'”

“But,the size of the programmes also means that even with a substantial percentage lost to corruption,a lot of money still must be making its way to the common man,” it said.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died on 2 September 2009 in a helicopter crash.