Narayana alleges mega scam in TDR bonds

Vijayawada: Minister for municipal administration P Narayana said irregularities took place on a large scale in issuing TDR bonds during previous YSRCP rule. He said 3,301 TDR bonds were issued during 2019-24 in 48 urban local bodies and urban development authority regions.

Replying to a question posed by some members Assembly on Thursday, the minister said complaints on irregularities in TDR bonds issued in Tanuku, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Tirupati were received and a departmental inquiry was ordered along with ACB inquiry.

He said the inquiry was completed in Tanuku and action will be taken against those responsible after receiving the final report. Tanuku TDR bonds were issued at a cost of Rs 22,000 per square yard by furnishing false survey number instead of Rs 4,500 per square yard. In Tanuku, 29 TDR bonds were issued and instead of paying Rs 63. 24 crore to the affected land owners, the government had paid Rs 754.67 crore, giving scope for Rs 691.43 lakh scam.

In Tirupati, Narayana said a committee will be appointed to inquire into irregularities in TDR bonds. The release of TDR bonds will be stopped in the coming 15 days and a decision will be taken after discussing the issue with the Chief Minister. The minister warned of serious action against those responsible for irregularities in TDR bonds even if they are political leaders.

Tanuku MLA Arimilli Radhakrishna alleged that former minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao was behind the irregularities in TDR bonds in Tanuku and demanded action against him. Another MLA Palla Srinivas of Visakhapatnam also demanded a probe into irregularities in TDR bonds in Visakhapatnam.

To another questioned raised by MLAs on status of TIDCO houses, Narayana said that the state government is planning to complete the infrastructure of TIDCO houses by December-end. He said that the government has accorded administrative sanction for five lakh houses and TIDCO issued tenders for 4.54 lakh units in 34 packages in 104 urban local bodies.

He said the TIDCO grounded 3,13,832 houses and completed 77,371 houses as in May 2019.However, the YSRCP government did not hand over the houses to beneficiaries only to defame TDP.

Visakhapatnam MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu said that in Visakhapatnam the YSRCP government had failed to hand over two lakh TIDCO houses. Besides, it took a loan of Rs 10,000 crore on TIDCO houses. He said the government has to return Rs 400 crore to the beneficiaries which was not repaid so far. He said as per the government advice, the beneficiaries paid money in the form of DDs. He demanded an inquiry into irregularities in TIDCO houses.

Another MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar said as many as 5,024 TIDCO houses in capital region remained vacant as the YSRCP government failed to distribute them to the beneficiaries.