Rs 563 cr released for Bhagiratha, Cheyutha not cancelled arbitrarily, says Seethakka

Hyderabad: Panchayat raj and rural development minister D Anasuya (Seethakka) has said that the opposition's allegations of lackadaisical attitude towards Mission Bhagiratha project are unfair and the govt allotted 563.3 crore for the scheme ever since they came to power in 2023. The minister also rebutted the opposition criticism regarding non-release of Cheyutha pensions.BRS MLA Sunitha Laxma Reddy alleged that funds for the Mission Bhagiratha project were not being released and special drives need to be conducted to ensure preparedness for the summer.Replying to her query, the minister said that the state has already spent 450 crore on Mission Bhagiratha in the current financial year (2025-26) and it was not correct to say that funds were not being released."To ensure summer preparedness, we had conducted a special drive between Feb 1 and 28 and identified issues, which will be executed from April 1 to 15," the minister said, adding that BRS was trying to deceive people by twisting facts. "They (BRS) falsely claimed 100% completion of Mission Bhagiratha without finishing the project, thereby misleading both the Centre and the people. Bhagiratha works are ongoing; we're correcting past mistakes and taking steps to avoid water issues this summer," she said.Speaking about the plight of sarpanches under the previous BRS regime, the minister said the responsibility for the pending bills lies entirely with BRS. "All those accumulated pending bills, owed to the sarpanches, are a legacy we inherited from the BRS administration. They do not pertain to works executed during our tenure. However, to ensure that former sarpanches do not become victims of the BRS' misdeeds, we have been consistently clearing pending bills. Till date, we have cleared bills worth 318 crore," she added.Responding to a question about cancellation and non-release of Cheyutha pensions, the minister said pensions have not been cancelled anywhere in an arbitrary manner. "We have suspended pensions only in cases involving deceased individuals or those drawing more than one pension, and only after a thorough verification of all relevant details," the minister said.She added that the state govt has sanctioned pensions to a lakh new beneficiaries and in the latest budget proposals, the govt has made provisions to sanction pensions to an additional two lakh beneficiaries in the nex fiscal (2026-27). According to the minister, the state govt is currently spending 932 crore per month, 11,176 crore annually, to provide pensions to 42 lakh beneficiaries across the state.