HYDERABAD: Roads and buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, likening the Akshara chit fund scam in Telangana to the Agri gold scam, on Wednesday directed the DGP Dr Jitender to take swift action against the accused and bring them to book.
During a ‘face-to-face with the minister’ programme in Gandhi Bhavan, he was flooded with umpteen complaints by victims of the alleged fraud committed by Akshara chit fund managing director Perala Srinivas Rao.
In an immediate response, Venkat Reddy called up the DGP and instructed him to appoint a special officer to investigate the case and ensure speedy justice to all the victims.
Earlier, hundreds of people and Congress party activists thronged Gandhi Bhavan to submit petitions to the minister seeking redressal to their grievances.
The minister received 799 petitions, of which 253 were by victims of the Akshara chit fund scam; around 173 petitions sought Indiramma houses, 119 were for ration cards, while 105 pertained to Dharani portal land issues.
Reddy referred the petitions to the concerned departments. He instructed the respective officials to resolve them at the earliest and submit action taken reports within a month.
Later, addressing the media, he dismissed BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao’s criticism of the Congress government, which, he termed, were “useless” utterances.
On Union minister Bandi Sanjay’s comments on Gaddar, Reddy questioned Sanjay’s involvement in the Telangana movement.
“The balladeer rendered songs for the Telangana statehood and for the oppressed classes. He led movements against atrocities on the marginalised sections. Where was Sanjay then?” he asked.
On Rama Rao’s recent ‘maha dharna’ in Nalgonda, he said that the turnout was not more than the number of vendors who sell peanuts and ice-cream at Congress meetings.
“Rao keeps talking about the fluoride issue, but not once did he visit the Mahatma Gandhi University in Nalgonda to address its issues. He became a minister because of his father but I am known for swearing by ethics and honesty. There is not even a single corruption charge against me,” he said.
Taking potshots at former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for avoiding Assembly sessions despite being the leader of the opposition, he said “What have the father and son done apart from amassing lakhs of crores? Lalu Prasad Yadav, who went to jail, is better than KCR.”
Slamming Telangana BJP leaders, the minister accused them of obstructing the Musi river cleansing project while supporting Yamuna river cleaning efforts in Delhi.
