Members of the A.P. Sarpanches’ Association and the A.P. Panchayat Raj Chamber submitted a memorandum to Andhra Pradesh Governor S. Abdul Nazeer on August 24 (Thursday), urging him to direct the State government to release the “appropriated funds” forthwith to the panchayats.
The members also wanted the Governor to direct the government to allow the elected committees of the panchayat raj institutions to discharge their duties.
The village secretariats and village volunteers should be brought under the control of the elected panchayats, they demanded.
In the memorandum, chamber president Y.V.B. Rajendra Prasad and association president V. Lakshmi Muthyala Rao said that the panchayat raj institutions were being destroyed in a systematic manner.
As much as ₹8,629.80 crore was released by the Union government during the years 2019-23 as per the recommendations of the Finance Commissions.
‘Violation of statutory obligation’
The statutory obligation to release the funds to the panchayats was violated, and the funds were appropriated for other schemes at the State level, they alleged.
Despite repeated representations, the amounts due for the years 2022-23 (₹2,010 crore) and 2023-24 (₹2,031 crore) were not released.
The panchayats had been made irrelevant without funds even for providing drinking water and sanitation in the villages, they said.
Parallel institutions
The establishment of parallel institutions by the State government in the name of the village secretariat and village volunteers, directly under the control of the State government, made the elected sarpanches, MPTC members, ward members and other functionaries of the panchayat raj irrelevant and inconsequential in the village administration, they added.
