By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: The Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) has alleged that the leaders from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) have swindled most of the funds that were meant for Iftaar and related arrangements, a charge denied by MIM.
“The local MIM and TRS leaders did not allow the Masjid Committees to organise Iftaar parties on their own. No estimates were prepared and no quotations were called for any works. Instead of calling short tenders, the procurement of fruits and items for Iftaar was done on nomination basis,” Amjed Ullah Khan, MBT leader, alleged in a media statement on Monday.
File photo for representational purpose only
“Almost all items that were purchased from the open market were over-quoted. The TRS government has helped its cadre grow rich or make some money in the name of Iftaar parties. This is height of corruption,” he further said.
Demanding the state government to issue a White Paper on the entire spending on Ramadan festivities, Khan said, “TRS and MIM leaders were assigned the jobs of arranging Iftaar parties worth crores of rupees in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits,” the statement claimed.
“No checks-and-balances were set up in purchases of clothes for poor. An ordinary saree worth Rs 60 was purchased for more than Rs 100. Most of the material was supplied by a firm owned by a relative of a senior Muslim TRS leader,” he alleged and further added: “Of the Rs 26 crore sanctioned for Ramadan arrangements, the TRS and MIM leaders swindled at least Rs 15 crore. The funds have not reached the deserving poor Muslims.”
The MBT leader, however offered no immediate evidence to substantiate his point but said his party would file applications under RTI seeking complete details of spending by the state government. “We are in the process of collecting evidence of financial misappropriation and will certainly approach the court if the state government refuses to order a high level probe,” the release added.
Asaduddin Owaisi, MIM president, refuted the allegations and said, “Let them file a complaint in a police station with proofs. The government distributed it, no political party has a role in it.”
TRS leaders could not be contacted for a comment.