5 more heads roll in Andhra paper scam

A day after Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister P. Srinivas Reddy resigned taking moral responsibility for the stationery purchase scandal...

A day after Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister P. Srinivas Reddy resigned taking moral responsibility for the stationery purchase scandal, heads started rolling in the state government. Five senior officials of the department were suspended for lapses.

As the muddle, involving purchase of excess stationery material at exorbitant costs, left the ruling TDP embarrassed, the government moved in swiftly issuing orders to suspend three senior engineers and two accounts officers in the Panchayat raj department.

The suspended officials were K. Rama Rao, a superintending engineer based in Anantapur whose properties were raided by sleuths of the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) yesterday, executive engineers Ramachandra Acharya and Y. Ramanatha Reddy and divisional accounts officers V. Kriyatmaka and K. Narasimha Rao, official sources said.

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The multi-crore scam pertained to the purchase of ‘‘sub-standard’’ stationery material for the department, allegedly at the behest of the Minister’s son-in-law Venkatram Reddy, without proper approvals.

The Minister, who initially sought to distance himself from the muddle, was directed by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to quit in the wake of political furore over the issue causing ‘‘considerable damage’’ to the government.