Telugu Desam Party activists created ruckus at an artisans’ meet attended by, among others, YSR Congress Chief Whip in Parliament Y.V. Subba Reddy at Madanuru near Kothapatnam in Prakasam district on Thursday for allegedly creating hurdles in the release of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds by the Centre.
Alleging gross misappropriation of NREGS funds by the State government, the YSRC MP from Ongole told the media here that “only a comprehensive probe by the CBI will help bring out the truth”. Earlier, TDP activists holding placards raised slogans against the main opposition party for doing ‘disservice to the State by scuttling release of funds’. The police and handlooms department officials restored order by saying that the meeting, convened to address issues concerning weavers, was not the right forum to register their protest.
the MP said, “We are ready to prove misuse of NREGS funds in the State in the last three years. Even Comptroller and Auditor General has indicted the State government over the implementation of NREGS last year,” the MP said.
‘Not anti-development’
Denying the TDP’s charge that the YSRC was ‘anti-development’, he said it was only against the ‘misuse of funds on the pretext’ of constructing a world-class capital at Amaravati, Pattiseema and Polavaram irrigation projects, he added.
The State government had diverted ₹2,458 crore of NREGS funds out of ₹3,257 crore for construction of CC roads (₹500 crore) and for Neeru Chettu water conservation programme (₹1,958 crore) in 2015-17, he alleged. In 2016-17, the diversion was to the tune of ₹2,500 crore for CC roads and ₹1,000 crore for Neeru Chettu, he contended.
The State government had denied livelihood security for the poor landless labourers by using machines in the execution of works selected by the Janmabhoomi committees packed with TDP activists and by bypassing the Gram Sabhas concerned, he alleged.