Congress accuses govt of usurping people's money of ` 1,040 cr: Ponnala Laxmaiah

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Ponnala Laxmaiah on Wednesday alleged that the government has kept about Rs 1,400 crore of people promising implementing schemes for them.

Addressing the media, he said that the government collected about Rs 396 crore from the sheep rearers to release Rs 30,000 to each sheep unit and not sanctioned the amount so far.

The government has also collected about Rs 1,040 crore from the fishermen to give mopeds and vehicles. Though two years have gone by the scheme amounts were not released.

He demanded the government for an open debate on the farmers' issues and said that the ruling party does not have a right to seek votes in the cooperative elections.

He said that no promises made to farmers have been kept. He said that the crop loan waiver was not initiated though 14 months have gone by since the formation of the government.

He said that Rythu Bandhu scheme amounts are released only when there are elections. The farm mechanisation programme is ignored.

Laxmaiah alleged that out of the 30 lakh voters of cooperatives about 18 lakh have been ineligible to cast their votes. He alleged that the voter list was full of errors.