YSRCP govt diverted Rs 13,364 cr Panchayat funds: BJP

Tirupati: BJP state spokesperson Samanchi Srinivas slammed the YSRCP government for diverting Rs 13,364 crore Panchayat funds violating the rules and also Constitutional spirit.

Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, Srinivas said that party state president Daggupati Purendeswari wrote a letter on September 26 to Union Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on the diversion of funds meant for the development of gram panchayats under the 15th Finance Commission and added that BJP would intensify the stir if the government failed to remit the funds it had used for other purposes in the state.

In this connection, he said that the party last month held statewide protests to press the government remit the funds it had diverted to grama panchayats, resulting the Union ministry directing a senior official Panchayati Raj deputy secretary Vijayakumar arriving to the state on Tuesday to make a field study on the issue of diversion of Panchayat funds. He also demanded the government to pay the pending bills to the contractors who have completed various works in grama panchayats. BJP leaders Dr D Srihari Rao and party district convener Dr Naresh Babu were present.