Telangana: BJP accuses govt of failing to report NREGA projects to Centre

Hyderabad: The Telangana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the state government of failing to report the progress on NREGA works to the Centre.

The BJP further alleged that the Telangana government has portrayed the Centre as anti-farmer, only to hide its arrogant attitude towards the farmer.

Addressing the media at the party office, BJP spokesperson Prakash Reddy said, “The state government had used Rs 151 crore to build what it claimed were barnyards for drying paddy and other food grains.”

Reddy further said that the Telangana government did not inform the concerned ministry about the nature of the work, which was part of the 265 permissible works under the scheme. When the ‘labour component’ and ‘material component’ of the works were uploaded on the software used for the scheme, the works were marked as ‘deviations’ by the software.

As a result, when the Department of Rural Development under the Ministry of PR&RD conducted an audit of the works a year later, it found that the funds were used for some other purpose. “This was why the Centre asked the state government to return Rs 151 crore,” Reddy said.

“In the last three years, Rs 3,000 crore has been released on average to the state for NREGS works. Why would the Centre consider Rs 151 crore a burden? Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have been constructing such platforms for various purposes. Even West Bengal tried to create an issue, but two years later worked it out with the Centre and resolved the issue,” he added

“At least now shed your arrogant attitude and send your officials to amicably resolve a simple matter, which you want to use for your politics,” he advised Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR).

Reacting to KTR posting photos and video of a newly built school building in Gambhiraopet, J Sangappa termed it an example of KG to PG education, and wondered how the minister could “tell white lies”.

“There are schools without toilets, food poisoning cases are being reported in educational institutions, 12,000 vidya volunteers and 20,000 scavengers have been removed from schools since 2014, and the state government hasn’t been able to use Rs 9,456 crore Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan funds of the Centre just because it hasn’t paid matching grant,” he added.