Rs 2 crore swindled by house number fixing

Karimnagar: Several unauthorised agencies are taking up job of fixing permanent house identification number plates, in rural parts of the district with the emblem of Telangana state. They charge anything between Rs 20 and Rs 50 per house. Accordingly, they earned over Rs 2 crore. It is learnt that some ZPTCs and certain executive officers of rural development department of many mandals are backing these agencies by taking huge amounts.

Representatives of these agencies approach owner of a house posing as employees of a licensed organisation to execute the job of attaching the number plates. They carry some documents signed by officials of panchayat raj and rural development department in order to win trust of people. They extract between Rs 20 and Rs 50 from each owner for this work.

It is said that the agencies bribe local public representatives and officials of a mandal and engage unemployed youth before entering a village. As they enjoy support of the elected representatives and officials concerned, no one is daring to raise objections over this job, although having permanent house identification number plate is not mandatory.

Karimnagar district has over 1,207 gram panchayats that account for over seven lakh houses. These fake agencies have already attached the plates to houses in villages of almost every mandal of the district. This means, they swindled around Rs 2.40 crore so far under the pretext of fixing the number plates with Telangana state emblem to houses.

When asked, Karimnagar district panchayat raj officer P. Kumaraswamy said that no agency was authorised for undertaking this unnecessary job. Displaying permanent house identification number plate is not a mandatory and is individual choice. People can put up boards to convey house number or simply draw it on a wall using some paint.