Congress accuses TS government of misusing people's privacy

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Monday assured a delegation of Congress party that the Centre would look into the complaints of illegal accumulation and integration of personal data pertaining to citizens of Telangana by the State government through 'Samagra Vedika' initiative.

Led by All India Congress Spokesperson Dr Sravan Dasoju, a delegation of Congress leaders met the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs at latter's office in New Delhi.

They submitted a complaint accusing the Telangana government of violating Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Data (Privacy & Protection) Act, 2017, Information Technology Act, 2008, and the dictum of the Supreme Court. He also alleged that the data was allegedly being misused by TRS party for political gains.

Referring to the speech delivered by Principal Secretary of IT Department Jayesh Ranjan in ICAI national conference held in Hyderabad on July 5, 2019, the Congress leaders said that the details of 'Citizen 360' initiative, as revealed by the IAS officer, were both shocking and disturbing as he confessed that the State government is using an algorithm which gathered the private data pertaining to various citizens available with various departments of the State and otherwise.

Sravan alleged that the Telangana government appeared to have dubious intent to utilise this massive people's data for political or private purposes and hence, without any prior consent or without any specific reason has indulged in collation and storage of large amount of private information of individuals/citizens.