Long-pending bills worth nearly Rs. 7.24 crore paid to the contractors and various other agencies by the Nellore Municipal Corporation has triggered a row, with the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress launching tirades against each other over the issue.
While the TDP leaders say that these bills were mostly relating to electricity and other utilities and the remaining going to the contractors, the Congress camp claimed that there was a fraud of nearly Rs. 5 crore which was reportedly given away in a platter by Mayor Abdul Aziz to his followers.
TDP leader Anam Venkataramana Reddy hit back at the Congress leaders, saying that the contractors’ bills were also relating to those works which were carried out during the Congress regime. “As they are alleging mischief, it is now their burden to clarify whether those works done during their regime were fraudulent,” he added.
Referring to the protest launched by the Congress, Mr. Venkataramana Reddy said that the TDP would not hesitate to go and sit in a dharna in front of PCC vice-president Anam Vivekananda Reddy’s house, if he failed to come out with the proof with regard to bogus bill charges against the mayor.
“Vivekananda Reddy had wielded a lot of influence in the municipal corporation affairs in those days. He saw to it that every wing of the corporation was totally damaged. Electricity dues alone had run into nearly Rs. 22 crore,” said Mr. Venkataramana Reddy.
As per the records, Rs. 7.24 crore has been paid towards various dues and a major of this of nearly Rs. 3.28 crore went towards clearing the electricity dues. Around Rs. 1.68 crore was paid to the contractors without showing any bias, the TDP leaders claimed.
The contractors’ payments were withheld for a long time and they were cleared only after the respective contractors pleaded before the mayor that for the past three years, they were waiting and now they were in debts, said Mr. Venkataramana Reddy.
TDP and Congress leaders launch tirade against each other amid fraud allegations
