The fate of the promises made by former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for development of urban and rural local bodies in the run-up to the previous Assembly elections is in a jeopardy.
Mr. Rao has assured release of huge funds to municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayats for their all-round development months before the elections, and the Finance Department issued orders accordingly. But works reportedly did not keep pace with the promises.
For instance, the former Chief Minister, during a meeting he addressed in Mahbubabad on January 12 last year, announced ₹50 crore to Mahbubabad town and ₹25 crore each to Thorrur, Maripeda and Dornakal urban bodies in addition to ₹10 lakh each to gram panchayats in the constituency. Similarly, he announced ₹40 crore each for taking up developmental works in Kothagudem and Paloncha municipalities and ₹25 crore each to Yelladu and Manuguru municipalities.
The cost of the total promises made by the previous government was estimated at around ₹3,800 crore and the orders were issued by the Finance Department before the elections. According to sources, the actual grounded works were, however, estimated to be around ₹200 crore. Funds were released from the Chief Minister’s Special Development Fund (SDF), a head under which the quantum had been enhanced almost five times from ₹2,000 crore in 2022-23 to ₹10,348 crore in 2023-24.
The issue figured during the department-wise review meetings convened by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy after the Congress government took over.
The Chief Minister is understood to have instructed the senior officials to collect constituency-wise information pertaining to the promises made under the CM’s SDF. Accordingly, officials are busy gathering the data along with the funds required for the sanctioned works. Finance Department officials remained tight-lipped when asked about the status of releases, but sources said the government is of the view that works which were yet to be launched should be cancelled while ensuring the completion of works that were already launched. Officials were learnt to have directed that they should inspect the quality of works on their completion before releasing the pending amounts to the contractors.
