Electoral bonds data: Who is behind Megha Engineering? Telangana firm that donated over ₹960 cr to political parties
The Election Commission of India on Thursday released the data on electoral bonds that the State Bank of India (SBI) shared with the electoral panel body on March 12. The Election Commission of India (ECI) disclosed the data on its official website, abiding with the Supreme Court’s order. The data highlighted the list of entities that purchased electoral bonds to make donations to political parties.
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Among the top two donors on the list were a lottery company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services and Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL). Notably, the official website of MEIL website is not working, except the homepage. All the details about the project and the company’s details remained out of reach for the public on its website.
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MEIL political donation
MEIL, popularly known as Megha, made its first donation in April 2019 and its last one in October 2023. The company purchased bonds worth ₹966 crore between 2019 and 2023.
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According to the SBI electoral bond data, three companies associated with MEIL also made significant donations to political parties. Western UP Power Transmission Company Ltd donated ₹220 crore via electoral bonds, SPEC Power donated ₹40 crore, and Evey Trans Private Ltd donated ₹6 crore. Cumulatively, MEIL and associated firms purchased a total of ₹1,200 electoral bonds.
All you need to know about the second-highest buyer, MEIL:
It’s a Telangana-based industrial conglomerate, established in 1989 as Megha Engineering Enterprises by Pamireddy Pitchi Reddy. In 1991, Reddy’s nephew P V Krishna Reddy joined the company and now runs it.
Reddy changed the company’s name to Megha Engineering & Infrastructures in 2006.
Electoral Bonds data: Future Gaming, Megha Engineering among top donors
According to Forbes, Megha built one of the largest irrigation projects worth $14 billion in drought-prone Telangana. The project became operational in 2019. In 2023, P P Reddy ranked 54 in the Richest Indians list as per Forbes.
Megha Engineering’s other prominent project was the Zojila Tunnel near the Himalayas. Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited completed the 5-km-long tunnelling work as part of the 18-km-long all-weather Zojila Tunnel in January 2022. Zojila project, Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel, ensures connectivity between Srinagar and Ladakh.
Its subsidiary Olectra Greentech, which got its technology from China’s BYD, has an order book of more than 3,000 buses.
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In its report, The Quint said Reddy’s house in Hyderabad is known as a ‘diamond house’ because it is shaped and designed like a diamond.
Last year, MEIL received a ₹5000 crore order from the defence ministry. In April 2023, MEIL won two separate packages to build the Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project in Mumbai, defeating infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro.
Megha Engineering was accused of fraud in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) this year. In January, Deccan Chronicle reported that Megha Engineering pocketed thousands of crores of the public in KLIS. Citing the audit report of the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG), MEIL was paid an excess of ₹5,188.43 crore in four packages. The amount could be more than this as there were 17 more such packages, the report mentioned. Congress and the BJP accused K Chandrasekhar Rao’s BRS party of showing patronage to MEIL.
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Published: 15 Mar 2024, 09:14 AM IST
Ganesh
http://ganesh@finplay.inFinance enthusiast, Mutual fund expert.