Govt cancels Rs. 2.87 crore allotted for residences of Jagan Mohan Reddy

The Andhra Pradesh government has withdrawn some of the funds that were sanctioned for upgradation of various residences of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. This move comes in a time when the state government has been grappling with a financial crisis.

As per reports, six orders for the cancellation of funds have been issued by the Roads & Buildings (R&B) department, with Rs. 2.87 crore being the cumulative amount withdrawn. These renovations were authorized back in October and came to light when Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and opposition leader, Chandrababu Naidu criticized the expenditure on the residences of Jagan Mohan Reddy as lavish in times of fiscal crisis in the state.

The cancelled funds include Rs. 39 lakh for provision of furniture at Jagan Mohan Reddy’s camp residence in Tadepalli. For the annual maintenance of his residence, Rs. 1.2 crore were released from the state exchequer. Another Rs. 73 lakh were put for installation of aluminium doors and windows at the house while Rs. 8.5 lakh were utilised for employing staff for 24×7 electrical maintenance of the house. Rs. 22.5 lakh were set aside for miscellaneous temporary arrangements like coolers and portable toilets.

Other than these, Rs. 24.5 lakh had been issued for beefing up security arrangements at Lotus Pond residence of CM Jagan Mohan Reddy in Hyderabad.

The state government has been reeling under a financial crisis, looking towards the Centre for help. The government even had to sell a few government lands to gather funds for the schemes announced before the elections, like Navratnalu.

The orders for cancellation were given by Principal secretary to Transport, roads and buildings department M.T. Krishna Babu on Friday night.