VIJAYAWADA: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Payyavula Keshav alleged that the State government diverted Rs 900 crore raised as a loan in the name of Rayalaseema drought relief.
Speaking to media persons on Friday, the senior TDP leader sought to know what Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would say about the diversion of the funds without taking up the works for which the loan was raised.
Pointing out that he had already raised the issue on Thursday, the PAC Chairman expressed surprise that even after 24 hours there is absolutely no response from the State government on fund diversion. “How to take the silence of the government, whether it can be understood that the ruling dispensation has quietly accepted the fact,” Payyavula observed.
Though Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu addressed the media this morning he only kept on criticising the Opposition parties and their leaders, the PAC Chairman said, adding that there is no mention of the Rs 900 crore scam.
Demanding the government to come up with facts on how the funds were diverted, Payyavula said if the ruling YSRC leaders failed to respond then the TDP would provide the evidence to the investigating agencies.
“It is really shameful that the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are keeping silent when there are no accounts for such a huge amount. The irrigation projects in Rayalaseema have become ATMs to Jagan,” the PAC Chairman remarked.