Forensic audit in all districts soon: Ponguleti
Hyderabad: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Saturday reiterated there is no question of sparing those who looted government lands and embezzled registration challan money by taking advantage of the loopholes in the Dharani portal.
He stated that influential figures in the previous government had seized government lands using the Dharani portal, and a forensic audit was conducted as a pilot project in Siddipet and Sircilla districts with the help of a Central government-affiliated organisation.
He added that the preliminary report clearly revealed numerous instances of corruption and irregularities. He announced that after reviewing this forensic report, a forensic audit will be conducted in the remaining 31 districts as well.
Minister Ponguleti held a meeting with the high-level committee formed to investigate irregularities into the misuse of the Dharani portal at his office in the Secretariat. He inquired with the committee members about the issues encountered during the investigation, the extent of each person’s involvement, whether there were any people behind the scenes, and if any revenue officials were involved. After reviewing the committee’s preliminary report, he offered further suggestions and instructed them to conduct a more thorough investigation and submit the final report. The committee members informed the minister that since the launch of the Dharani portal, 52 lakh transactions have taken place, and initially, irregularities were identified in 4,848 transactions. However, after the investigation, it was found that approximately Rs 4 crore was not paid to the government for 1,109 documents.
Speaking on this occasion, the Minister stated that taking advantage of the loopholes in the Dharani portal, which was introduced by the previous government without proper planning or foresight and in a conspiratorial manner, some individuals committed irregularities. He said that through the Bhu Bharati portal, an audit was conducted, the irregularities were identified, and a high-level committee was immediately formed to conduct an inquiry. He further stated that criminal cases have been registered against 48 people who committed irregularities in 35 mandals across nine districts.
He criticiSed that while the actual situation is as described, one opposition leader is talking about a Rs 1,000 crore corruption, another about Rs10,000 crore, and yet another is making baseless allegations that the Bhu Bbu Bharathi portal is riddled with corruption.
