Hyderabad: Telangana government is set to file cases against former ministers, MLAs, public representatives and officials involved in weaker sections housing scam, estimated at over Rs 300 crore between 2004 and 2014. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had ordered a CID probe in July. The CID has completed the probe in 32 villages in nine districts and registered cases against nearly 1,000 accused including beneficiaries, sarpanches and revenue officials at the village level. However, the TS government wants to book the then ministers, MLAs and public representatives, with whose connivance houses were allotted to bogus beneficiaries.
While the CID probe is expected to take a long time to cover the hundreds of villages, the government is planning to order a judicial probe simultaneously to establish the role of senior politicians and officials at the state-level. The records available with the government state that nearly 24 lakh houses were built in Telangana between 2004 and 20014, of which nearly 14 lakh houses were built within two years from 2007 to 2009 when large-scale irregularities took place. The YSR government resorted to these manipulations in a bid to return to power in 2009 elections.
Preliminary inquiries by CID found that thousands of bogus claims were made without building houses in connivance with beneficiaries, politicians and officials. The CID has booked cases against the beneficiaries, revenue staff, sarpanches and housing board officials for every fake house detected, with five persons booked for each house. The government suspects that at least 10 per cent of the total 14 lakh houses built were fake. At the current pace, it may take years for CID to finish the probe, book cases, take statements, file chargesheets and initiate legal proceedings against the thousands of accused.
To overcome this, a simultaneous judicial probe to establish the role of then ministers, top officials and other elected representatives is being actively considered by the government. Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao announced that even TRS MLAs and leaders would not be spared if found to be guilty. He is expected to hold a meeting with CID officials shortly to take a decision on expediting the investigation and book the culprits.
