Officers and staff in collusion with YSRCP leaders have committed fraud through fraudulent musters and bogus works in Rural Employment Guarantee works. In five years, Rs. 856. 66 core funds have been found embezzled. All these irregularities are coming to light through social inspections and investigations.
The Center, which has taken the misuse of funds seriously, has ordered the state government to conduct a comprehensive investigation and take action against those responsible. In the previous government, the then Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy filled key positions related to the implementation of the Employment Guarantee Scheme with officials who were friendly to him.
Later, Budi Mutyal Naidu came to Peddireddy’s place, but none of the officials moved. At the district level, project directors agreed to what some YSRCP leaders said. They misused employment funds arbitrarily through fraudulent musters and bogus works. In 2019-20, works worth Rs 8,617 crore were undertaken in 661 mandals.
Of these, the fact that the field staff did not even have records for works worth Rs 547.20 crore shows the extent of misuse of funds. After the second phase of inspection, the social inspection teams concluded that Rs 410. 98 croread been misused.
The previous YSRCP government also corrupted the social inspection department, which impartially investigates employment works and submits reports to the central and state governments.
A convenient officer was appointed as the head of this department. No matter how many allegations of corruption were made against him, they ignored them. This makes the social inspection departments at the district and mandal levels a breeding ground for corruption.
Even in such circumstances, if hundreds of crores of funds are found to be misused every year, how many more crores of corruption will be revealed if an impartial investigation is carried out? After the formation of the coalition government, people in key positions from the head of the social inspection department to the district level were removed.
