Hyderabad: The state government has decided to crack the whip on 43 revenue staff that includes tahsildars, revenue inspectors and VROs for corruption and irregularities in the selection of beneficiaries for various welfare schemes.
Official sources said that the vigilance and enforcement department that probed the irregularities has submitted a report to chief secretary Somesh Kumar on Thursday.
The probe found that several ineligible persons had got benefits of welfare schemes like Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyanalaxmi and by bribing the revenue staff. The issue of irregularities in welfare schemes was raised by BJP MLA Raja Singh in the state assembly recently.
Raja Singh told Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao in the house that brokers were ruling the roost at all tahsildar offices and fleecing applicants visiting these offices to check the status of their applications for one or other welfare scheme.
He said brokers were promising to get the sanctions done at the earliest if they paid a bribe and warned that their applications would remain pending forever if they approached officials directly. Officials considered and approved their applications only if they were processed through these brokers, Raja Singh told the assembly.
He informed the house that in his Goshamahal constituency, brokers were demanding Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 to get Shaadi Mubarak or Kalyanalaxmi cheques, which were cleared for Rs 1 lakh for each beneficiary.
The CM who initially denied scope for any irregularities in welfare schemes however ordered a probe following strong demand from the Opposition. The probe found that broker menace was rampant at tahsildar offices and the brokers in nexus with revenue staff were ensuring welfare schemes even for the ineligible.
They are demanding money to clear applications for several cases as in fee reimbursement, overseas scholarships, ration cards, bank-linked subsidy schemes etc, the probe found. It remains to be seen what action the government would take to stem the rot.
