Hyderabad-based infrastructure company Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL), which emerged as one of the top donors to political parties via electoral bonds, has donated around 60 percent of the total Rs 966 crore to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to the data from the Election Commission of India.
Separately, MEIL’s arm Western UP Power Transmission Company also donated Rs 220 crore, of which almost half went to All India Congress Committee of Indian National Congress (INC).
Megha Engineering has been in the limelight since the lesser-known company’s name emerged as the one of the biggest donors to political parties in the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission of India disclosed on March 14. Subsequently, on the Supreme Court’s direction, the State Bank of India released all information related to the electoral bond scheme on March 21.
Also Read: Megha Engineering: Electoral bonds scheme unveils an infra giant out of a little-known entity
ECI uploaded two data sets– one with the names of the donors and the unique alphanumeric bond number, the other document provides information about the political party that has encashed the bonds.
Moneycontrol matched and reviewed data entries from the two documents relating to Megha Engineering and found that the company bought 966 bonds of Rs 1 crore each.
Of the 966 bonds bought by MEIL, 584 bonds went to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), 195 to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), 85 to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), 37 to YSR Congress Party, 28 to Telugu Desam Party, 18 to INC, 10 to Bihar Pradesh Janata Dal, five to Janata Dal, and four to Janasena Party.
MEIL's subsidiary Evey Trans Private also bought six bonds worth Rs 1 crore each, all of which went to BRS. Similarly, another subsidiary of the company SEPC Power bought 40 bonds worth Rs 1 crore each.
MEIL, despite its status as the second-largest infrastructure company in the country, has remained largely under the radar in public perception. As per data from rating agency CRISIL, MEIL's order book was a robust Rs 1.87 lakh crore as on September 2023. While this is second to sector leader L&T’s order book of Rs 4.5 lakh crore around the same time, it is significantly higher than its peers. The company is executing projects across 20 states and two Union Territories in sectors such as irrigation, drinking water, highways and tunnels, ports, railways and power.
Hyderabad-based businessman P Pitchi Reddy (PP Reddy), who comes from a farming background, started Megha Engineering Enterprises in 1989. The company initially built pipelines for municipal projects and then progressively moved to bigger water and irrigation projects. PP Reddy’s nephew PV Krishna Reddy (PV Reddy) joined the business in the early 90s.
MEIL first made news in 2019, when soon after taking over as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy canceled the contract for the Polavaram Multipurpose Irrigation Project given to Navayuva Engineering, alleging a scam. New bids were invited through a reverse auction route. MEIL was the sole bidder and bagged the order.
The company had beaten heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, among others. What surprised people more was finding out that this relatively unknown company was in fact already executing some other big projects.
At a national level, the MEIL surprised many in August 2020, when it bagged one of India’s most ambitious projects to build the Zojila Tunnel, connecting Srinagar and Leh. It was awarded after bids were invited several times over six years. MEIL had beaten industry major Larsen & Tobro and Ircon to win the project.
MEIL group entities include the listed entity Olectra Greentech and the group along with other investors also owns Associated Broadcasting Company Private Limited (ABCL), the umbrella company for a portfolio of regional news channels under the brand name of TV9.
MEIL is reportedly under the lens of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) scam, according to reports. A news piece in Deccan Chronicle, which cited the draft performance audit report on KLIS by the CAG, said that the company was paid an excess of Rs 5,188.43 crore in just four packages, involving the supply and commissioning of pumps, motors and auxiliary equipment.
(With inputs from Aishwarya Nair)
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