Rs 191 crore of Rs 610 crore diverted by AP returned so far to Telangana

Hyderabad: The AP government has thus far returned only Rs 191 crore of the Rs 610 crore belonging to the Telangana state labour department that it had diverted to its account in October last year.

Home and labour minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy told the Legislative Assembly that the TS government has initiated legal proceedings against AP, besides filing complaints with the Centre to recover the remaining funds.

“We have already filed a case in the High Court against AP over the illegal diversion of funds and it is pending. We have also lodged several complaints with the Centre on this issue during the last one year. Despite this, the AP government returned only Rs 191 crore so far and it still owes TS Rs 419 crore. The TS government is taking all possible measures to recover this amount,” Mr Reddy said.

He added that these funds were meant to be utilised for the welfare of construction workers. Mr Reddy said there are 7.96 lakh construction workers in TS and the government has extended Rs 18 crore as insurance amount to families of around 25,000 workers who died or sustained severe injuries while on the job. The fund transfer issue had sparked a row between TS and AP governments, with the two states filing police cases against each other.