State Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy gave a clean chit to all the ‘tainted’ Cabinet Ministers and said that not even single rupee went to their bank accounts.
At a press conference here on Thursday, the State Finance Minister said that it was the pressure from the former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy that made them sign on the dotted line. Holding the bureaucrats and Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy responsible for the scams, he said that large amounts were transferred to the accounts of Mr Jagan’s media house.
“We never thought Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will direct us in a wrong way, but will abide by the directive of the party high-command and court findings,” Mr. Ramnarayana Reddy added. He alleged that YSR had not paid the compensation amounts due to farmers, though he called himself messiah of farmers and it was only under the leadership of N. Kiran Kumjar Reddy that Rs.6,000 crore was sanctioned.
Grants to civic bodies
The Finance Minister said that the State government would consider a good model for market intervention to ensure that farmers in Krishna and other neighbouring districts got good price for the black gram, which they were unable to sell in the open market.
About Rs.1662.89 crore of compensation was released to the Neelam cyclone affected people and only 15 per cent in six affected districts did not have bank accounts, hence did not receive the amounts, he observed and wanted them to immediately open bank accounts.
Interest-free agriculture/crop loans were practicable and banks were getting the amounts from the government within three hours of the borrowers depositing loan amount in the bank accounts, said Mr. Ramnarayana Reddy.
The State government will provide grants to Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam municipal Corporations to help them pay salaries to their staff directly under the 010 Account Head and not from treasuries directly. The Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy, Vijayawada West MLA Vellampalli Srinivas and Congress District President Naraharasetty Narasimha Rao and MLC Ilapuram Venkaiah and city Congress president Adapa Nagendra were also present.
