HYDERABAD: A large number of former village sarpanches were arrested across the state on Monday, when they took to the streets demanding the payment of pending bills.
Former minister T Harish Rao and other BRS leaders, who supported the sarpanches, were also taken into preventive custody. However, Panchayat Raj Minister D Anasuya blamed the previous BRS government for not paying the bills for various works they executed like construction of graveyards, sports stadiums, dump yards, etc. She said that the government would verify the works and make payments.
The police took a group of former sarpanches into custody at Peddamma temple in Jubilee Hills here when they were trying to proceed to meet Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday to submit a memorandum with a request to clear the bills.
The former sarpanches said that though they had executed works in the villages between 2019 and 2024, their bills were not cleared.
When Harish and other BRS leaders tried to meet and extend support to the agitating sarpanhes, the police took them into preventive custody. the Sircilla MLA said the former sarpanches pledged the ornaments of their wives and sold away their properties to execute works. Condemning the arrests, Harish said that the Congress government diverted `120 crore NREGS funds and `300 crore 15th Finance Commission funds and another `500 crore NHM funds. The funds received from the Central government were not released to the villages, he alleged.
The former sarpanches were also arrested in Bodhan and other places in the state in order to prevent them to reach Hyderabad.
Recalling that the former sarpanches were demanding payment of bills for the last one year, BRS working president KT Rama Rao alleged that the state government was trying to suppress them by using police force. He demanded immediate release of the arrested former sarpanches.
‘BRS is provoking agitators’
Alleging that the BRS was provoking former sarpanches against the government, Anasuya blamed the previous government for the pending bills. The previous BRS government forced the sarpanches to take up work without releasing funds, she alleged and released the newspaper clippings of several sarpanches, who died by suicide over non-payment of bills during the BRS government.
She wondered how BRS leaders like Harish was supporting the agitation of sarpanches now since he was the finance minister during the BRS regime and responsible for nonpayment of bills. “Harish was responsible for the suicide of sarpanches,” she alleged, adding that the BRS was trying to come to power in the state through backdoor methods.
The minister said the Congress government had released Rs 580 crore and cleared the pending bills of sarpanches for the works done during the tenure of the BRS government. She alleged that projects were undertaken without any work orders. The minister, however, said that the remaining bills would be cleared soon. Anasuya said that the government would verify the works done during the BRS government and pay the bills. She asked the former sarpanches not to fall prey to the ‘gimmicks’ of BRS.
She advised them to stage dharnas in front of the residences of BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao and Harish. Refuting the allegations of Harish, Anasuya said the question of diverting 15th Finance Commission funds does not arise as the state government did not receive them so far.