Hyderabad: Telangana Excise and Prohibition minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Friday, February 16, slammed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) over the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on irregularities and fraud in the implementation of schemes and construction of the Kaleshwaram project.
Krishna Rao remarked that the report validates the accusations of massive corruption and irregularities under the BRS regime made by the Congress party during the run-up to the Assembly elections last year.
“Corruption worth thousands of crores, illegal activities, and wastage of funds occurred under the rule of former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. The CAG report is proof of all these misdeeds. KCR and ministers in his cabinet must answer,” he said.
He also promised a thorough probe into irregularities in sheep distribution, sand excavation, embezzlement of funds, and bills’ payments cited in the report.
“All culprits will face justice,” he added.
The report is expected to generate ample political heat ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Key insights of the CAG report
- The Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project, a flagship project of the previous government, is economically unviable, with a Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) of 0.52. The project’s cost is now expected to exceed Rs 1,47,427.41 crore, far surpassing the originally projected cost of Rs 81,911.01 crore
- The CAG report also found that the state government paid Rs 1,710 crore in pensions to ineligible beneficiaries, including deceased individuals, car owners, and government employees.
- Telangana is under a huge debt due to market borrowings, with the state government required to repay Rs 252,048 crore as principal and interest on market borrowings by 2032-33.
- The state government failed to spend budgetary allocations to various welfare schemes, despite resorting to huge borrowings.
- The “Telangana Dalit Bandhu” initiative, which aimed to provide a lump sum amount of Rs 10 lakh to eligible Dalit families, had an actual expenditure of only Rs 2,101 crore as of March 31, 2022, while the budget allocation was Rs 4,442 crore.
- The state had an outstanding liability of Rs 3,14,663 crore at the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year.
- The revenue deficit for the third consecutive year was understated by ₹1,157 crore due to non-discharge of interest liabilities.
- The state’s tax revenue increased by 26% to Rs 91,271 crore, while non-tax revenue and central tax transfers also increased by 46% and 48% respectively.
- The CAG report also highlighted the accumulated losses of Rs 56,000 crore by 39 state public sector undertakings (PSUs) in Telangana
- The CAG report also uncovered irregularities in the sheep distribution scheme. The report found that there was a suspected fraud of Rs 253 crore in the scheme, with payments made on manipulated transport invoices for the transportation of sheep and invoices containing fake vehicle registration numbers. The audit also observed serious deficiencies like non-maintenance of beneficiary-wise files, non-availability of invoices in support of the transportation of sheep, and payments made on manipulated invoices.
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