Residents of Idikarai near Coimbatore have approached the District Collectorate here on Monday with serious allegations of various corruptions in the welfare funds allotted to them between 2006 and 2015, based on information obtained from an RTI application.

Alleging that more than 120 Dalit families were affected by the corruption, M. Rajadurai, one of the residents of the area claimed that mismanagement of the funds have also affected as many as 700 residents. He further claimed that the people of Ward 8 have been cheated of up to Rs.20 lakhs and added that only four people from the area are educated enough to bring out the corruption in the area.

In the petition to the District Collector Archana Patnaik, Rajadurai and the residents have said that the in the Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) project, as many as 19 beneficiaries from the Harijan Colony in Maniyakaranpalayam were selected and given Rs.1.05 lakhs each. But, according to an RTI copy dated 14.10.2015; the beneficiaries were supposedly allotted Rs.1.35 lakhs. Rs.30,000 did not reach the beneficiaries.

They had further alleged that according to the RTI, water distribution plan was also sanctioned in the area between July 2009 and June 2012, at a cost of Rs.1.62 lakhs, but no one from the area had benefited by the scheme so far.

The residents also said that there is no biogas centre set up in the area; but the reply given to the RTI claims that a biogas centre was built in the area at a cost of Rs.4.06 lakhs in 2010.

They also alleged that the drainage system and work station, which were built at a cost of Rs.2.49 lakhs and Rs.2.70 lakhs respectively, have not been completed so far, but the records show that the works have been finished by February 2010.

Rajadurai also claimed that the people of the area were being exploited due to their lack of education