S A Parthasarathy, block president of the Congress, accused Srinivas, the Taluk Panchayat executive officer, of committing irregularities in readying the list of beneficiaries under the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme.

Congress activists laid siege to and locked the Taluk Panchayat on Wednesday, alleging the list had been readied as per orders by MLAs and not according to the eligibility of the beneficiaries.

S A Parthasarathy, addressing the gathering, said the list for Bangarpet constituency panchayat limits consisted of the names of beneficiaries given by M Narayanaswamy, Bangarpet legislator.

“The names of many BJP supporters, who are ineligible, have been added to the list.

Srinivas is unwilling to go by the words of anybody other than the legislator,” he said and accused the executive officer of misusing his powers, not paying heed to the water problem all over the taluk.

Party local leader K M Narayanaswamy said the legislator added the names of BJP supporters to the list for the Scheme, which is a programme by the Central Government.

He alleged that the list was prepared without the gram panchayat having organised meetings in villages, and not even in public. The list was also not brought to the notice of the awareness committee. “The simple fact that they belonging to the ruling party seems to have given them the notion that they can prepare a list of ineligible beneficiaries,” he said and accused M Narayanaswamy of displaying vested interest in matters of development.

M S Anand, Zilla Panchayat member, added that Panchayat officers at various levels refused to show them the list of beneficiaries, saying they do not have the list. “There are irregularities even in matters of providing funds for tankers to supply water to rural areas. The owners of water tankers have tired of the corrupt activities of the officers and have stopped the supply.” He demanded immediate suspension of such corrupt officers.

The protest continued for about four hours, the activists preventing the Panchayat officers and staff from entering the office and refusing to budge till the Deputy Commissioner and Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer came to the spot. They also shouted slogans against the Taluk Panchayat executive officer and assistant executive engineer of the Zilla Panchayat technical division.

T Badanur, the Taluk Panchayat deputy secretary, who arrived at the spot was besieged by the furious protesters. He, however, begged forgiveness in place of Srinivas, the Bangarpet Taluk Panchayat executive officer, and promised to reject the lists that did not follow the guidelines set by the government.

Appeased, the protesters withdrew from the office.

K Chandra Reddy, Town Municipal Council president and Krishna, Zilla Panchayat member were present at the protest.