Congress Slams KCR For "Misusing" Municipality Funds

TPCC president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today strongly condemned the TRS government's "misuse and diversion" of the funds meant for the development of the state's municipalities.

Speaking to media after attending the general body meeting of the Suryapet Municipality, he said that he had recently procured Rs 11 crore from the Centre for the development of the 400 KV Suryapet substation in the area, and that he was fighting to bring development to the area which, he claimed, was being hindered by the "misuse and diversion" of the funds for the same.

Reddy then expressed deep concern over the "politicisation of the administration" in Telangana, and alleged that the developmental activities in the state were not being carried out in a planned manner.

"Except for Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his family, and a few other ministers, all other elected public representatives are being ill-treated and sidelined in the state. Under the lax TRS regime, the district Collectors too are acting on their own whims - they often sanction funds in an arbitrary manner without following the proper rules of the process just to please the ruling party's bosses. The local officials rarely have any say in the matter. As a result, there is no transparency in the spending of developmental funds by the local administrative bodies in the state. This has been affecting the overall development of many of Telangana's municipalities," he said.

Continuing his attack on CM KCR and IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao for their negligence towards the people of the state, the MP accused the CM and his son of focusing only on winning the various local body elections at any cost, and then neglecting the development of the municipalities which were often left "starving for funds".

He also attacked the BJP-led union government for "ignoring" Telangana's developmental needs.

"On the one hand, the Centre ignores Telangana, and is reluctant to release funds for the state's development. On the other, the TRS government diverts the meagre funds that the state does receive. Consequently, all the developmental activities have come to a halt in a majority of the municipalities in Telangana," he alleged.

Reddy exhorted the councillors, irrespective of their political affiliations, to fight for their rights and seek the fair share of funds for their respective wards/divisions.

"The common people will hold their respective councillors responsible for the lack of development in their wards. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the councillors to actively speak up against the diversion and misuse of public funds by the district Collectors, who act on the orders of some ministers or the CMO, and rampantly misuse Section 26 of the Municipal Act to divert funds. All the municipalities should hold monthly general body meetings to review the progress of development works, and to reclaim their powers," he said.

The Congress leader also spoke about the party's preparations for the upcoming graduates' constituencies elections in the state, and said that the party had initiated the process of finalising the candidates for the MLC elections.

He said that he was confident that the Congress would win both the graduates' constituencies' seats and the Nagarjuna Sagar by-election, and that the party would then go on to make a strong comeback in the next Assembly elections as well.