Congress Demands Central Probe Against TRS Govt

Hyderabad, March 31 (Maxim News): Alleging that TRS Government was involved in scams worth over Rs. 10,000 Crore, former Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Wednesday demanded that the Central Government order a probe into the financial irregularities pointed out by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) in its latest reports.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, Shabbir said that the CAG, in its reports submitted to the Telangana Legislature on March 26, 2021, the closing day of the budget session, has exposed the open loot of KCR Govt. He said that the TRS Govt did not even respond to the Inspection Reports (IRs) of CAG to clarify the allegations of financial irregularities.

He said that the CAG Reports on General, Revenue and Social Sectors, Public Sector Undertaking (PUCs) have revealed a large number of financial irregularities committed by the State Government from 2014-2019. They include tampering with the budget figures, especially on revenues; favouring contractors and other financial misappropriations. He said scams of nearly Rs. 10,000 Crore have been exposed in the latest CAG reports.

The former minister said that it was the duty of the CAG to point out irregularities and loopholes in the accounting system of the State Government’s departments. Similarly, it is the duty of departments to respond to the observations made by the CAG paragraph-by-paragraph. However, he said that the TRS Government did not respond to many observations made by the CAG in its reports since 2014. The non-responsive behaviour clearly means that the KCR Govt has indeed indulged in corruption and it was hiding the facts, he alleged.

Shabbir said that the CAG has made strong remarks against the lack of response from the government. It stated that “Heads of Offices and next higher authorities are required to respond to the observations contained in Inspection Reports (IRs) and take appropriate corrective action. Audit observations communicated in IRs are also discussed at periodical intervals in meetings at District/State levels by officers of the Accountant General’s office with officers of the concerned Departments. As of 31 December 2019, 2903 IRs containing 19,280 paragraphs pertaining to previous years were pending settlement. Of these, first replies have not been received in respect of 399 IRs (4,250 paragraphs).”

Further, he said that the Administrative Departments were required to submit Explanatory Notes on paragraphs and reviews included in Audit Reports, within three months of their presentation to the State Legislature duly indicating the action taken or proposed to be taken. For this purpose, the Departments are not required to wait for any notice or call from the Public Accounts Committee. He quoted the CAG as saying, “Explanatory Notes were yet to be received from 11 Departments in respect of 19 paragraphs/performance audit review that featured in the Audit Reports for the years 2014-15 to 2016-17 as of 31 December 2019. Explanatory Notes were also yet to be received from 13 Departments in respect of 29 paragraphs/performance audit review relating to the period prior to bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh, as of 31 December 2019.”

Shabbir demanded that Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao clarify the observations made by the CAG on all the issues. Else, it would be deemed that his government is involved in large scale corruption. He also demanded that the Central Government order a probe through relevant agencies to trace the looted public money.

He said that the CAG has only exposed scams of hundreds of crores, but it also exposed that the present government was highly incompetent and unaccountable in running the administration. “The CAG has exposed the lies of TRS Govt with regard to false claims of Telangana being the richest State. It has exposed how KCR Govt has manipulated figures to show growth. The same inflated figures were used by the government to get huge loans at higher interest rates in the name of various projects thus turning Telangana into a debt-ridden State. This financial fraud was also exposed by the 15th Finance Commission. But KCR Govt took no action against the officials involved in this economic crime,” he said. (Maxim News)

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