Gulte News
Revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said corruption has increased heavily in his department and that he would take measures to eliminate it.
He was speaking at a meeting organised by the YCP cadre to congratulate him on securing a ministerial berth during the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Addressing the party functionaries, the minister said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was implementing the direct benefit transfer as part of which funds were being directly deposited into the beneficiaries’ accounts only to avoid graft. Yet corruption is still prevalent in the system and we should be ashamed of it, he said.
Dharmana said that the public would believe the party only if there is some commitment and dedication among the party activists in serving the people. Gone are the days when people voted based on religion or caste and voting the Aam Aadmi Party to power in Punjab elections stands evidence to this fact, he said.
At the same time, Dharmana said that he was wishing to quit politics and give way to youngsters as he was not able to work enthusiastically due to age-related problems. “But people’s love and admiration towards me are stopping me from taking a concrete step,” he said.
The minister’s statement on direct benefit transfer evoked criticism from the opposition parties. The YCP leaders are proudly claiming that volunteers are directly distributing pensions in cash to the beneficiaries by reaching their doorsteps to avoid inconvenience to them. There is talk that the volunteers are resorting to heavy corruption while disbursing the cash to beneficiaries. YCP rebel MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju and others also raised doubts over why cash was being distributed to the beneficiaries while DBT was introduced to bring in transparency in the transactions.
This means graft has become part and parcel of the system, both in digital as well as manual transactions, the TDP leaders pointed out.
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