Yanamala alleges diversion of Central funds meant for poor

Mangalagiri: The Jagan Mohan Reddy government is meting out great injustice to the downtrodden sections of society by diverting the Central funds released for the welfare and development of these sections, alleged former finance minister and TDP politburo member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu here on Tuesday. In a statement, Ramakrishnudu said that the Central funds are being diverted by the state government for corruption and wasteful expenditure thus doing injustice to the underprivileged sections of society.

The state had to suffer loss of thousands of crores in the past four years as the government had not released the matching grant for over 94 Centrally-sponsored schemes affecting the development of the backward sections, he said.

He claimed that in four years, a whopping Rs 71,449 crore has been diverted within minutes of their release by the Centre. The Centre has withheld release of Rs 6,000 crore as the Jagan government did not mend its ways despite the Centre sending a letter raising objections to the inclusion of Jagan and YSR names in front of every government scheme, Ramakrishnudu said.

Stating that Jagan is squarely responsible for withholding of Rs 4,000 crore capital expenditure, the TDP leader pointed out that the Chief Minister has diverted Rs 3,084 crore sanctioned by the Centre for building houses for the poor. On the one hand the promise of building five lakh housing units per year has not been fulfilled and on the other, the state government is diverting the funds being released by the Centre for houses construction, he said.