Nellore: The ruling TD leaders’ greed for higher amount of kickbacks, relating to contract works of the Nellore Municipal Corporation, has reportedly led to lapse of funds to the tune of Rs 42 crore sanctioned for development works in SC, ST colonies in 2015-16. Despite finalisation of tenders and release of work orders, work has not been taken up yet. The works were supposed to be executed by the end of March, 2016.
YSRC party whip in the NMC, Bobba Srinivasa Yadav said, “One of the reasons for the lapse is that the civic body has allegedly been dividing the work into packages, for commissions. Because the packages ran into crores of rupees, the file has been sent to the capital for permission, which is mandatory. Without any follow up being taken up, the funds have lapsed.”
He alleged that Rs 10 crore, sanctioned under the ST Sub-Plan for 2015-16, had also gone a waste due to a lack of consensus among leaders of the ruling party, regarding the sharing of works. Dr. P. Panduranga Rao, the engineer-in-chief of the public health engineering department, also said that the lapse of funds occurred due to the breakdown of work into packages, during his visit to Nellore in January.
Then the government issued a special sanction, to allow the civic body to make use of the lapsed funds. Mr Yadav said though the tenders had been finalised on October 13, 2016, the civic body had not begun the works yet. Nellore Rural legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy threatened to launch an indefinite fast if the works were not started within a week. He alleged that the delay was due to the TD bigwigs’ demand that contractors allot 50 per cent of the work to men from their party.
The contractors and the civic body officials could not reach an agreement with regard to the percentage of kickback. Referring to GO No. 94, which pertains to stipulations for SC,ST Sub-Plan works, he said the works should have commenced within 90 days of the order but there was no sign of starting them even after 200 days.
