The Double Life of Ramalinga Raju by Kingshuk Nag

Author:Kingshuk Nag
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Published: 2012-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Six

Derailed by a Rail Deal

Though he did not realize it then, Raju’s downfall began the day he was awarded the metro rail project for Hyderabad. Focussed as he was on land and realty, Raju had never thought of bidding for the metro rail project till somebody explained to him the wonderful opportunity it presented a top entrepreneur like him.

The man who talked him into the project was the then vice-president of CII’s Hyderabad chapter, Harishchandra Prasad. This was sometime in April 2008, when Prasad, who ran his own power company, Malaxmi Hydro, wondered if he could bid for the project. Realizing that he was too small an entrepreneur to enter the fray, he discussed the idea with his cousin, Trivikrama, who ran the upcoming Navbharat Group in the field of infrastructure. The cousin was interested, but his business was also not large enough to qualify him as a bidder for the project. It was at this point that Harishchandra and Trivikrama decided to approach a big baron like Raju as a partner. Prasad knew Raju quite well, so getting an appointment was not a problem.

When the two met Raju and broached the subject with him, the IT man was plainly all ears. ‘That’s a great idea. But Satyam can’t do this business. Let’s get Maytas into this,’ Raju said. He also added: ‘I am interested in involving my son Teja. Just ensure that he has some role in this project.’

That’s how Raju entered the project that ultimately led to his downfall. Typically, as soon as the project was awarded to him, he ensured that Harishchandra Prasad was out of it. But more of that later. First, a look at why Hyderabad needed the metro rail and how this project was different from those in Kolkata and Delhi.

The foundations of Hyderabad were laid over four hundred years ago, in 1591, but it was only after Aurangzeb captured the fort of Golconda in 1687, in what was a culmination of a protracted war lasting twenty-five years, that the city started coming into prominence. The Nizams, who ruled Hyderabad for over 250 years, started off as Mughal governors of the Deccan, but as soon as the empire in Delhi started disintegrating, they declared themselves independent. Hyderabad city was the seat of the Nizams’ power, and with their fabled wealth (they owned the Golconda mines from where diamonds such as the Kohinoor had been mined), they went about earnestly planning their capital city. Though considerable thought went into laying out gardens and erecting public buildings, the streets were, not surprisingly, very narrow. It was on this foundation that Hyderabad had continued to grow into the twentieth century. When Hyderabad became the capital of the new state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, there was no attempt to rebuild the city.

It was only in 2000 that Chandrababu Naidu began the process of building the new city of Cyberabad, which would be adjacent to Hyderabad and also part of it. Though a huge area had been labelled

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