State Cabinet orders SET probe into Dharani and Bhu Bharathi portals

The Telangana Cabinet has constituted a Special Enquiry Team to probe alleged irregularities in the Dharani and Bhu Bharathi portals, covering developments from tendering to current operations. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said a forensic audit and pilot checks in Siddipet and Medak preceded the decision.

Hyderabad: The State Cabinet has decided to constitute a Special Enquiry Team (SET) to conduct a comprehensive probe into alleged irregularities in the erstwhile Dharani portal and the current Bhu Bharathi portal.

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said Dharani became operational on October 29, 2020, and several complaints had been received regarding alleged irregularities. He said the SET would examine developments from the floating of tenders for the Dharani portal to the present Bhu Bharathi portal.

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Briefing media persons on the Cabinet decisions in Hyderabad on Friday, the Minister said a forensic audit was conducted following demands raised by some MLAs in the Assembly. As part of a pilot project, land records in Siddipet and Medak districts were audited before the exercise was extended to all districts.

He said the Dharani portal was retained with modifications, reducing its 32 modules to six while amending several others. The Bhu Bharathi portal has now been handed over to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for operations and maintenance.

“The SET will conduct a probe from the inception of Dharani to the current Bhu Bharathi portal,” Srinivas Reddy said.

The Minister said no district in the State had received more than 30 to 35 percent rainfall. District in-charge Ministers and senior IAS officers will interact with people and elected representatives on July 20 to assess the impact of the rainfall deficit and submit district-wise reports.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will review the reports before the State government submits a memorandum to the Centre seeking assistance.

The Cabinet also decided to discontinue the practice of depositing Gram Panchayat-generated funds in the State treasury. Instead, Panchayats will be allowed to deposit their funds in nearby nationalised and cooperative banks.

Srinivas Reddy said engineering projects were witnessing a widening gap between administrative estimates and actual expenditure, resulting in delays and additional financial burden on the government.

To address the issue, the Cabinet approved the formation of a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary to frame a unified policy covering project appraisal, land acquisition, tendering and bill payments.

The Cabinet also approved completion of the Mukteshwar Lift Irrigation Scheme, also known as Chinna Kaleshwaram. The project involves lifting 4.50 TMC of water from the Godavari at Kannepalli to irrigate 45,000 acres in the Manthani Assembly constituency. The government will assess the completed works before finalising the remaining project.

The Roads and Buildings Department also briefed the Cabinet on the proposed alignments and station locations for three high-speed rail corridors linking Hyderabad with Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. The Cabinet decided to establish a rail hub near Shamshabad.

The Centre has already approved bullet train corridors connecting Hyderabad with Pune and Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai via Amaravati and Tirupati.