PIL alleges graft in Indiramma Housing allotments; Telangana High Court seeks CBI, State responses

During the hearing, the division bench asked the counsels representing the Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary (Housing), the district Collector of Mulugu, the director of CBI, the Mandal Parishad Development Officer in Mulugu, and the secretary of Venkatapuram gram panchayat to explain their stand in response to the contents of the PIL.

The petitioner has alleged that officials collected money from applicants and did not allot houses as promised, thereby cheating the prospective beneficiaries.

In her letter, Saibhavani said she had applied for the sanction of a house, but officers carried out fake and fabricated surveys to select names of beneficiaries and alleged that houses were allotted to those who allegedly paid a bribe ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

She alleged that the officers’ claims of selection of the “poorest of the poor” is a mere suppression of truth. The fact was that those who paid the highest bribes were among those selected applications, she said.

She also alleged that omissions and commissions were being made at the convenience of mandal level officers and that the Indiramma Illu Scheme committees were receiving bribes to recommend names of prospective beneficiaries instead of considering the poorest of the poor. She claimed that she was a supporter of a particular political party and alleged that the names of people like her were intentionally being deleted from the list.

“Indiramma housing scheme has become a source of income for Congress party leaders, workers, and gram panchayat officers/secretary to accumulate crores of rupees from innocent people in every mandal of Mulugu district. Some people are not selected even though they have paid Rs 1 lakh to the Indiramma committees and survey officers,” she alleged.