Harish Rao slams Congress government over stalled panchayat administration in Telangana

Former Minister Harish Rao criticised the Congress government for stalling panchayat administration in Telangana due to fund shortages and unpaid salaries. He alleged that sanitation work was halted, services collapsed, and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy remained disconnected from grassroots realities.

Medak: Former Minister T Harish Rao on Monday said administration in gram panchayats across Telangana had come to a standstill due to the non-release of funds and unpaid salaries to panchayat workers.

After inspecting the Chippalturthi village in the Narsapur mandal, Rao interacted with sanitation workers and a tractor driver who told him they were unable to collect garbage due to a lack of diesel, as there were no funds. He pointed out that while the previous BRS government had provided tractors to all panchayats, the current Congress government had failed to allocate funds to run them.

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As a result, tractor drivers had returned their vehicle keys to MPDOs, parking the unused tractors at panchayat offices. With workers halting garbage collection, waste has piled up in several villages, contributing to the spread of seasonal diseases, he said.

Rao added that the local panchayat secretary had spent Rs.80,000 from her own pocket to meet office expenses due to the lack of government support, but there was still no indication of funds being released.

Countering Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s claim of crediting salaries on the first of every month, Rao said panchayat workers across the State had not received their salaries for the past three months. In Chippalturthi alone, he noted, 80 of the 110 streetlights were non-functional, an indicator, he said, of paralysed administration.

He pointed out that while the previous BRS government had provided tractors to all panchayats, the current Congress government had failed to allocate funds to run them.

Accusing the Chief Minister of prioritising payments to contractors while neglecting panchayat workers, Rao alleged that Revanth Reddy was not interested in releasing their salaries as they would not offer commissions. He also criticised Revanth Reddy for staying away from the Secretariat and instead spending time travelling between Hyderabad and New Delhi to appease the Congress high command.

Rao remarked that the Chief Minister would never understand ground-level public issues if he continued to operate from his command and control centre and his house in Jubilee Hills.

Narsapur MLA V Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, former MLA D Padmadevendar Reddy, and other leaders were present.