Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Andhra Pradesh unit president Somu Veerraju on Sunday alleged that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had turned the Panchayat Raj system ‘lifeless by introducing the system of volunteers’. He demanded that the State government must return the funds taken from the panchayats immediately.
“The Panchayat Raj (PR) system is the backbone of rural India. The previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government had crippled the system through its Janmabhoomi Committees in Andhra Pradesh. Now, the YSRCP is doing the same with the volunteer system. The sidelining of the Panchayat Raj funds has impoverished the panchayats,” Mr. Veerraju told the media at Madanapalle. t
Pointing out that sarpanches were struggling to go ahead with the developmental works, the BJP leader said, “Auditing should be done four times a year during grama sabhas, which has not been in practice in Andhra Pradesh. Several other procedures have also lost seriousness,” he said.
