Tension prevailed at the office of the Commissioner of Panchayat Raj & Rural Development (PR&RD) at Tadepalli in Guntur district on Friday as a large number of sarpanches staged a demonstration demanding the release of funds devolved by the 15th Finance Commission for the gram panchayats.
The sarpanches expressed concern that they were unable to get even day-to-day civic maintenance works done in the villages. Paucity of funds was hampering drinking water supply and sanitation.
Sarpanches’ association leaders told the media that the State government was due to give about ₹950 crore to the gram panchayats but it was not transferring the money citing various excuses.
They said the 15th Finance Commission funds were due to be provided to the gram panchayats for quite some time, but it was not being done purportedly because of the constraints faced by the government.
Meanwhile, attempts were being allegedly made to divert the money to Public Deposit accounts. The consequence was the panchayats grappling with severe fund crunch. If the situation continued, the protest would be intensified, the sarpanches warned.
A sarpanch said a sum of ₹7,600 crore was diverted earlier, which made governance impossible for the rural local bodies. He demanded that an opportunity be given to meet the Chief Minister to pour out the woes of sarpanches, who insisted that their monthly honorarium be increased to ₹15,000.
