Congress replaced welfare schemes with scams: Harish Rao

Senior BRS leader T Harish Rao alleged widespread corruption and accused the Congress government of failing to fulfil promises made to farmers, students and youth. He raised concerns over welfare schemes, fee reimbursement, employment, power supply and pending payments to farmers.

Karimnagar: Senior BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao said that the Congress government had replaced welfare schemes with scams. Various welfare schemes were implemented during the tenure of K Chandrashekhar Rao. However, scams were taking place under the Congress government led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

There was corruption in various departments such as Civil Supplies, Singareni, Electricity, land transactions and even welfare programmes in Gurukul institutions, the BRS leader said while participating in an extended-level party workers’ meeting held in Alganur here on Tuesday.

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The Congress government had failed to implement its promises made to farmers, students, youth and weaker sections while burdening people with increased taxes and charges. Referring to alleged irregularities in Gurukul institutions, Harish Rao said that tenders worth nearly Rs 1,200 crore for uniforms and shoes and Rs 800 crore for food supplies had been awarded under questionable circumstances. However, even the ministers concerned, Ponnam Prabhakar and Adluri Laxman Kumar, appeared unaware of the details of the tenders issued by their own departments.

Talking about Rythu Bandhu, he alleged that the government had effectively skipped three instalments worth Rs 19,000 crore. However, the BRS government had not stopped Rythu Bandhu payments despite the impact of demonetisation and the Covid pandemic, he said, and demanded the immediate release of all pending dues to farmers.

Farmers were struggling with delays in paddy procurement, deductions in grain purchases, fertiliser shortages and the suspension of the Rythu Bima scheme due to non-payment of premiums. Rs 2,100 crore in bonus payments to farmers remained unpaid, he said. Criticising the proposed “Rythu DISCOM”, he alleged that the move would undermine 24-hour free power supply to agriculture. Farmers, who were not getting even 12 hours of power supply, would not get even four hours of electricity if the DISCOM came into existence.

He accused the government of failing to release fee reimbursement funds, affecting nearly 30 lakh students. Colleges were withholding certificates from students because reimbursements had not been paid. However, the previous BRS government had spent Rs 19,500 crore on fee reimbursement over nine-and-a-half years despite challenges such as demonetisation and the Covid pandemic.

Targeting the State government’s employment record, the BRS leader alleged that despite promises of two lakh government jobs, only around 16,000 appointments had been made. He accused the government of burdening unemployed youth by increasing application fees for various examinations. Not only examination fees, but also other charges, including registration charges, RTA fees and public transport fares, had been increased. Such measures had adversely affected middle-class and lower-income families, he said.

Harish Rao urged party workers to actively participate in the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls beginning on June 25.