Swachh Bharat: YSRC says embezzled funds meant for toilet construction

TIRUPATI: The YSR Congress party’s Prakasam district unit has said an RTI query and an investigation by the district authorities have unearthed a scam in toilet constructions during the Telugu Desam party’s rule from 2014 to 2019.

In a statement on Monday, the party said the TD's Janmabhoomi committee headed by MLA Veeranjaneya Swamy misappropriated ₹22.5 crore out of the ₹40 crore sanctioned for the toilets. These toilets were meant for the poor and the underprivileged in the Kondapi constituency, and constructed under the Centre's Swachh Bharat (open defecation-free villages) Scheme.

Varikuti Ashok Babu, YSRC Kondapi in-charge, said the investigation showed that only 10,000 toilets out of the 25,000 toilets sanctioned for the Kondapi segment were constructed by the Janmabhoomi committee.

“The committee members fraudulently withdrew funds for 25,000 toilets, and pocketed  ₹ 22.5 crore from the funds in their own names and in the names of their associates without actually building the toilets,” he said.

In one instance, an RTI reply revealed that ₹19.35 lakh was paid to five NGOs to construct toilets for 127 villagers in Ankarlapudi village. However, these toilets were never built for the 65 beneficiaries mentioned in the records.

Local authorities conducted further investigations and found that the Janmabhoomi committee members and their friends and relatives, who were listed as NGOs, defrauded ₹9.75 lakhs in this case.

Responding to these allegations, approximately 1,500 individuals, including YSRC Kondepi in-charge Ashok Babu, staged a protest outside the residence of MLA ‘Dola Sree Bala’ Veeranjaneya Swamy. They demanded an explanation for the misappropriation of funds meant for the construction of toilets.

As a symbolic act, they sat on the road holding toilet mugs, highlighting the plight of the poor who lack access to proper sanitation facilities.

Ashok Babu condemned the alleged embezzlement and said, "It is shameful that TD would stoop so low as to divert funds meant for toilets. This ₹22.5 crore scam in Kondapi constituency is just the tip of the iceberg. A thorough investigation will uncover many other scams involving the MLA. Similar investigations should be conducted in the remaining 174 constituencies in the state to determine the extent of funds swindled by the TD in the name of the poor."