VIJAYAWADA: The Government of Andhra Pradesh on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it will revert the Rs 1,100 crore it had diverted from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).The amount was diverted to the Personal Deposit (PD) accounts of the Agriculture Commissioner.
The government submitted before the court that the sum would be returned to the SDRF in two weeks. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition pertaining to the extension of compensation to families of COVID-19 victims by State governments, and the diversion of SDRF by the Andhra Pradesh government.
During the previous hearing, the Bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna said the money from SDRF could not be diverted or used for any other purpose. The Bench also wanted the funds to be reverted to the SDRF. Counsel for the State government had then sought time to seek instructions on the issue.
On Monday, when the petition came up for hearing, senior advocate R Basant, representing the government, submitted that the State would transfer the money from the PD account to the SDRF within two weeks.
The Bench said that the reverted money, if required, could be used to compensate the families of COVID-19 victims as per the Disaster Management Act.
The government also filed an additional affidavit stating that payments were made to four claimants, who had earlier said they were not compensated.Responding to the development, TDP supremo and leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu felt that the Supreme Court order to immediately deposit Rs 1,100 crore to SDRF account amounted to a slap on the State government.
In a tweet, Naidu said the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government was not only committing blunders but also resorting to serious foul-play to cover up its mistakes.
Diverting the funds meant for assisting the COVID-affected was a classic example of Jagan’s inhuman attitude. The TDP chief demanded the State government to implement the Supreme Court's guidelines to resolve complaints of non-receipt of compensation should be resolved within four weeks.