FGG for V&E probe into ‘misuse' of special development funds
FGG president M. Padmanabha Reddy said that the government sanctioned ₹1,190 crore at ₹10 crore for each Assembly constituency in 2023-24.
The amount was released to District Collectors for taking up developmental works with the approval of the District In-Charge Minister. The SDF funds were meant to be spent on education infrastructure (₹2 crore), drinking water (₹1 crore), maintenance of collectorates or government offices (₹50 lakh) and balance ₹6.5 crore for other developmental works.
However, the fund was not being implemented as per the guidelines leading to misuse and wastage of taxpayers' money. Citing examples in a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, he said that Devarakonda MLA proposed an amount of ₹1.14 crore for his office-cum-residence when there was no provision for renovation of MLA's residence. 'It is not clear how the district in-charge Minister approved such works. There are many similar cases in other districts also,' Mr. Padmanabha Reddy said.
He said that tenders ought to be called for works more than ₹5 lakh in line with the rules, but executing agencies were splitting the works into bits of ₹5 lakh each and allotting them on nomination basis.
The Congress Assembly constituency in-charges were proposing works bypassing the MLAs and the district in-charge Minister was sanctioning them. For instance, the sitting MLA was ignored in the Karimnagar Assembly constituency and proposals were received from the Congress in-charge, which were subsequently approved.
There were many villages in Karimnagar Assembly constituency where infrastructure for schools and drainage facility were required, but sanction was made for 50 high mast lights in villages at a cost of ₹60 lakh and open gym in 25 villages at a cost of ₹1.25 crore. 'No tenders were invited and works were allotted on a nomination basis,' he lamented.
In view of these, he wanted the government to order an inquiry and authorise the Collector to approve the works.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
CM demands over ₹1 cr. recovery from Kejriwal over ‘fake' phansi-ghar
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday called for a thorough inquiry and demanded that the ₹1.04 crore spent by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on a British-era 'fake' 'phansi-ghar' (execution room) at the Delhi Assembly be recovered from former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Terming the move a 'deception of people' and an 'insult to martyrs', Ms. Gupta said the installation was based on no official documentation and essentially a repurposed 'tiffin room' falsely portrayed as a historic phansi-ghar to mislead the public. During a discussion in the Assembly, she said an FIR should be registered against Mr. Kejriwal and the structure be removed before August 25. Noting that the phansi-ghar was inaugurated on August 9, 2022, Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta said the 1911-12 building map accessed from the National Archives clearly marked the space as a tiffin room. 'I challenge AAP to find one historian who can verify it was an execution room,' he said. 'Distortion of heritage' 'Such tiffin rooms are in other offices too. You will know about them if you conduct an inquiry. Without any documents, it was declared as an execution room. We are ashamed of this. He [Kejriwal] had a disease of lying,' the CM said, terming it a 'distortion of heritage'. AAP legislator Sanjeev Jha said many execution rooms from the British era are not officially recorded and accused the ruling party of 'standing with the British'.
NDTV
4 hours ago
- NDTV
Delhi Minister Calls AAP Chief "Dumbest Chief Minister" Over 'Phansi Ghar'
New Delhi: "This Vidhan Sabha can issue a certificate that we have had the most dumb Chief Minister" -- with that cutting remark, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa sparked a political firestorm in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday, accusing former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of distorting history by turning an old service room into a fabricated British-era execution chamber. The structure in question -- called a "Phansi Ghar" or 'Hanging house' on the Delhi assembly premises -- was inaugurated by then AAP government in 2022 at a cost of nearly Rs 1 crore. But this was declared "historically baseless" by the current government, which has now ordered that it be dismantled ahead of the All India Speakers' Conference scheduled later this month. From Gallows to Tiffin Room? The memorial, inaugurated on August 9, 2022, was built to resemble a jail, complete with iron gates, small bricks, and statues of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev installed inside what was presented as an execution chamber. It also included lift-operated nooses and original prison artefacts. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, however, told the House that the site was never an execution chamber and called the entire project a "gross distortion of history." "This portion of the Assembly was a service staircase used by British officers, mainly for tiffin service. The real site of the Delhi jail was where Maulana Azad Medical College stands today," she said. She called for the removal of all misleading signage referring to the "Phansi Ghar," saying the Assembly's image must not be tarnished before the coming conference. "Man Who Went to Jail Giving History Lessons" Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa went further, saying the former Chief Minister had "insulted national martyrs" by converting a tiffin room into a fake memorial. "Mr Kejriwal has developed such a bad habit of spinning fanciful stories that he called the tiffin room a hanging chamber for martyrs, hurting the patriotic sentiments of this country," Mr Sirsa said. He mocked the structure's design, which featured two lift rooms. "They are claiming that executions were carried out on one side while food came up on the other. What an incredible display of foolishness," he said. Project Cost Questioned "If something cost Rs 10 lakh, they claimed it was over Rs 1 crore. That's their main art. Even if a large party did it, the cost wouldn't go beyond Rs 20 lakh," Mr Sirsa said. Raising suspicions of political motives behind such symbolism, he said: "They brought Tipu Sultan's photo here earlier, there was a motive. Now they say Bhagat Singh dropped a bomb here? There's definitely an agenda." Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra joined in, alleging that the erstwhile AAP government had "tampered with history" for political theatrics. "The martyrdom of martyrs has been insulted. The Kejriwal government spent crores to build fake gallows. This was a staged drama in the name of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru," he said. "This is not just misuse of funds, it's emotional betrayal," he said. AAP Defends Memorial, MLAs Marshalled Out AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha defended the memorial, saying historical records from that period are not always complete. "Many such execution sites were never officially documented. The 1912 map shows this as the only double-storey structure consistent with a hanging chamber... Are we whitewashing British tyranny just to target Kejriwal?" he argued. He urged the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to assess the structure before any final decision is made. As the debate escalated, Speaker Vijender Gupta ordered the marshalling out of Leader of Opposition Atishi and several AAP MLAs from the House. What Next? With the Assembly ordering the removal of the "Phansi Ghar" structure and associated signage, the controversy has opened a deeper conversation about the politics of memory and representation. While the BJP-led government calls it an "insult to martyrs," AAP insists it was a symbolic tribute to India's freedom fighters, albeit in the absence of concrete historical records. As questions arise about the use of public funds, historical authenticity and political showmanship, the episode underscores a larger concern: how history is remembered, who gets to tell it, and whether facts are being shaped to fit narratives, or vice versa. Whether the structure was a tribute, a distortion, or simply political theatre, one thing is clear -- ghosts of the past continue to cast long shadows in Delhi's corridors of power.
The Hindu
4 hours ago
- The Hindu
Telangana to celebrate textile heritage, honour weavers on National Handloom Day on August 7
Telangana government will mark National Handloom Day on Thursday with State-wide celebrations that include honouring weavers, holding exhibitions and highlighting welfare measures aimed at supporting handloom and powerloom workers. The Sri Konda Laxman Bapuji Awards will be presented to selected weavers and designers. Events such as handloom exhibitions, public meetings with weaving communities and district-level programmes will be held. According to officials, the celebrations are part of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Handlooms and Textiles Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao's ongoing efforts to protect the State's weaving tradition and secure livelihoods. Telangana has, so far, geo-tagged 23,046 handlooms and 43,768 powerlooms, and has 393 handloom weavers' cooperative societies and 73 powerloom societies. Several schemes for the welfare of weavers are under implementation. Under the Telangana Chenetha Abhayahastham scheme, the Nethanna Podhupu thrift fund helps handloom workers save part of their income while the government contributes twice that amount. In 2024-25, a total amount of ₹90 crore was spent to support 36,133 weavers. In 2025-26, around ₹7.19 crore has been released to 36,731 beneficiaries so far. The same thrift fund scheme is also available to powerloom weavers. Last year, it supported 11,698 people with ₹34.07 crore. This year, the government has set a target to support 15,000 weavers with ₹30 crore. Under the Telangana Nethanna Bhadratha scheme, the families of deceased weavers and ancillary workers are provided ₹5 lakh. In 2024-25, a total of ₹3.75 crore was disbursed to 36,337 families. A budget of ₹15 crore has been allocated for 2025-26. A loan waiver scheme for handloom weavers was announced in March. With a budget of ₹33 crore, it applies to loans taken between April 2017 and March 2024, up to a maximum of ₹1 lakh per weaver. This is expected to help them access fresh loans for work. To support wages, the Telangana Nethannaku Barosa scheme provides up to ₹18,000 per year to weavers and ₹6,000 to ancillary workers. Now, ₹12.20 crore has been sanctioned for the current financial year. The Pavala Vaddi scheme reduces interest burdens on weavers' cooperative societies. In 2024-25, nearly ₹1.09 crore was spent and 60 societies benefitted. As part of efforts to boost marketing, the Telangana State Handloom Weavers Co-operative Society (TGSCO) organised two exhibitions in 2024-25 with ₹59 lakh. For 2025-26, one national-level expo and two special expos have been planned with a total budget of ₹1.05 crore. Sales through TGSCO's 32 showrooms increased from ₹3.17 crore in the April-June quarter of 2024-25 to ₹4.39 crore in the same period this year. In March last year, the government issued orders requiring all departments and agencies to procure cloth from TGSCO. This has resulted in purchase orders worth ₹587.26 crore so far in 2025-26. The government has also decided to supply two sarees per year free of cost to 65 lakh women from Indira Mahila Shakthi self-help groups. For the first round, 4.63 crore metres of cloth is being produced by 131 cooperative societies and 56 small-scale units. A yarn depot is being set up at Vemulawada in Rajanna Siricilla district to support powerloom production. Moreover, ₹50 crore has been sanctioned as corpus and 2,253 metric tonnes of yarn have already been supplied. Last year, the State established the Konda Laxman Bapuji Indian Institute of Handloom Technology in Hyderabad. Sixty students will be enrolled annually for a three-year diploma course in Handlooms and Textile Technology. The government has said it aims to continue supporting the weaving community through focused schemes and policies that provide financial stability, create employment and preserve traditional craftsmanship.
