Hyderabad: The Telangana Panchayat Raj department has uncovered a widespread scam involving 553 gram panchayat secretaries who allegedly uploaded fake photos to mark their attendance on the facial recognition app without being physically present for duty.
Following the discovery, 15 individuals have already been suspended, and show-cause notices have been issued to the remaining secretaries, with further action pending. This crackdown comes after minister Seethakka ordered a comprehensive statewide investigation into the matter.
The probe also revealed that several individuals had falsely recorded their attendance without reporting for duty.
Photo of CM Revanth Reddy misused
In a notable instance, a panchayat secretary identified as T Rajanna in Jagtial district was suspended after he uploaded a photo of chief minister A Revanth Reddy instead of his own geo-tagged photograph on the Daily Sanitation Report (DSR) mobile application.
Rajanna failed to provide a satisfactory response to a show-cause notice regarding the incident.
To prevent such incidents in the future, Panchayat Raj department director, Srujana, on Saturday, August 2, issued strict directives to all district panchayat officers, urging them to implement robust measures.
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