Telangana Revenue Staff Pick Ineligible Beneficiaries For Welfare Schemes, Held

Oct 16, 2021, 10:00 IST

Telangana has nabbed 43 revenue officials for violations.

After a BJP legislator raised the topic of bribes in the state legislature, the CM ordered an investigation.

Hyderabad: For corruption and irregularities in the selection of recipients for various welfare schemes, the state administration has decided to fire 43 revenue employees, including tahsildars, revenue inspectors, and VROs.

The vigilance and enforcement department, which investigated the anomalies, reportedly submitted a report to chief secretary Somesh Kumar on Thursday, according to official sources.

The investigation discovered that some ineligible people have benefited from social schemes such as Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyanalaxmi by paying revenue officials. Raja Singh, a BJP MLA, has addressed the topic of discrepancies in welfare initiatives in the state legislature.

Brokers were dominating the roost at all tahsildar offices, Raja Singh told Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao in the house, and fleecing applicants visiting these offices to verify the progress of their applications for one or more welfare schemes.

He claimed that brokers promised to complete the sanctions as soon as possible if they paid a bribe, but cautioned that if they approached officials directly, their applications would be delayed indefinitely. Raja Singh informed the assembly that officials only reviewed and approved their petitions if they were routed through these brokers.

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Brokers in his Goshamahal seat were seeking Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for Shaadi Mubarak or Kalyanalaxmi cheques, which were cleared for Rs 1 lakh for each recipient, he told the assembly.

Following a strong demand from the Opposition, the CM, who first denied any possibility of any anomalies in social packages, ordered a probe. The investigation discovered that the broker problem was common at tahsildar offices, with brokers working in tandem with revenue personnel to ensure benefit packages for the ineligible.

The investigation discovered that they are seeking money to clear applications for a variety of reasons, including fee reimbursement, overseas scholarships, ration cards, bank-linked subsidy programmes, and so on. It's unclear what steps the administration will take to stop the bleeding.