Taking 3 per cent commissions from contractors a norm, says Sircilla civic chief

RAJANNA SIRCILLA: Sircilla municipal chairperson Samala Pavani’s video that even “their minister” told them that there was nothing wrong in taking commission up to 3 per cent from contractors went viral on Saturday. It said accepting commission from contractors was normal as “councillors had invested huge money to get elected”.

Late in the night she sent in her resignation to the municipal commissioner. In the resignation letter, Ms Pavani said she was resigning on personal grounds and thanked minister K.T. Rama Rao for his support. She also thanked the councillors for their support.

Ms Pavani, said councillors were not happy though works worth hundreds of crores were on in Sircilla municipality colonies and contractors were not giving them commission. She said, in a lighter vein, at a press conference on Saturday that it was common to take 1 to 3 per cent commission from contractors as “mediapersons knew pretty well”. She was referring to drainage works in the colonies.

However, she did not mention the name of the minister but just said “our” minister. She alleged that some of the contractors said councillors were asking them to pay commissions for the works they had done in the colonies in the Sircila municipality. Giving commission to the councillors was the “responsibility” of contractors and they must follow it to compensate the expenditure incurred during elections, she felt.

Accepting commission was not just happening in Sircilla municipality alone, she said, and every one of them in Telangana state was doing so and there was “nothing new in it”.

She said her commissions were taken care of by her husband and she was concentrating only on development works and administration, and added that she could not say who the contractors should pay to and the percentage.

She admitted that she was one among many who took commissions from contractors.