The Chief Minister’s Relief Fund under the Congress government has been streamlined and made accessible to more beneficiaries and double the amount being released per year when compared to previous regime. One major change made in the procedure to prevent misuse has been to include the beneficiary’s account number on the cheque.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, which ruled the State for two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2023, released on an average ₹400 crore per year under CMRF, while the Revanth Reddy-led government spent ₹1,530 crore in 21 months, which is nearly ₹760 crore a year, as per the figures available with the Chief Minister’s Office. More importantly, the CMRF fund disbursal has been scam-free so far, while criminal cases of misusing the CMRF fund were registered against those associated with the BRS MLAs.
Two days ago, the Jubilee Hills police of Hyderabad arrested seven persons over misappropriation of CMRF funds. They were identified as fake beneficiaries who secured CMRF cheques fraudulently. There are separate cases registered in different parts of the State over ‘misuse of CMRF cheques’. Investigation is on to ascertain if there was a criminal conspiracy by a single or different gangs.
