IT Wing Under BRS Rule Spent Rs 13.8 Cr in 8 Months
Expenditure jumped from Rs 1.5 crore annually to Rs 13.85 crore in just eight months; foreign trips of ex-director also come under scrutiny.
Hyderabad: An RTI query has exposed a massive surge in expenditure by the Digital Media Wing, Softnet, operating under the IT department during the final months of the previous BRS government, just ahead of the 2023 elections.
The wing, which was headed by Konatham Dileep — known to be the close aide of former IT minister K.T. Rama Rao — incurred a staggering expenditure of Rs 13.85 crore in eight months between April 1 and December 3, 2023.
This figure is sharply disproportionate when compared to the wing’s spending in the previous years. From 2016-17 to 2022-23, annual expenditures ranged from Rs 32.72 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore. The sudden spike in 2023 has raised eyebrows, especially as the bulk of the spending happened in the months immediately preceding the polls.
The RTI reply also revealed that Digital Media Wing director Konatham Dileep embarked on multiple foreign visits between May 2015 and May 2023 including to United States in May 2015, May/June 2016, October 2016, May 2017, and March 2022, Switzerland (Davos) in January 2018, January 2020, and May 2022 and United Kingdom in May 2022 and May 2023.
The detailed financial breakdown provided by the IT department in response to the RTI query is as follows: From August 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017: Rs 32,72,062, April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018: Rs 51,99,429, April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019: Rs 27,76,394, April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020: Rs 50,35,646 , April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021: Rs 51,68,930, April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022: Rs 94,93,980, April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023: Rs 1,50,10,155, April 1, 2023 to December 3, 2023: Rs 13,85,50,524.
