Sarpanches appeal for 15th Finance Commission funds

Tadepalli (Guntur District): Sarpanches Welfare Association of Guntur, Palnadu and Bapatla districts appealed to Commissioner of Panchayat Raj Kona Sasidhar to deposit 15th Finance Commission funds of about Rs 279 crore directly into the accounts of the gram panchayats.

Submitting a memorandum to the Panchayat Raj Commissioner at his office here on Thursday, Association president Chilakalapudi Papa Rao recalled that the sarpanches have been facing financial crunch for the last one year throughout the State since there were no funds with the panchayats.

They took a strong exception to the Unofficial Note, also known as UO Note, issued by Finance Secretary Natarajan Gulzar diverting the funds of Rs 379 crore of 14th and first tranche of 15th Commissions, as power arrears of the village panchayats and later issued government orders to that effect.

Papa Rao said that the secretary of Finance had issued orders on August 19 to divert the funds of Rs 379 crore released by the Finance Commission, which was against the Constitution.

The sarpanches appealed to the Panchayat Raj Commissioner to take initiative to make sure that the funds will not be diverted and deposited in gram panchayat accounts.

Referring to other problems the sarpanches are facing, Papa Rao said that the honorarium to the sarpanches should be enhanced to Rs 10,000 from the existing Rs 3,000, health cards be given to sarpanches, payment of Rs 20 lakh insurance to the families of sarpanches in case of the latter's death on duty and orders should be issued to all the officials to observe protocol during all the government programmes.

The sarpanches appealed to the Commissioner to take the issue to the notice of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and do justice to them.

The sarpanches staged a protest and burnt the copies of UO Note at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar statue here. They demanded immediate withdrawal of UO Note.

Akhila Bharata Panchayat Parishad national secretary Dr Jasti Veeranjaneyulu said that without the permission of village sarpanch and ward members of the village, funds could not be taken out, which is illegal and unconstitutional. If there are power arrears, the electricity department should seek permission of the sarpanch and obtain cheques from him.

Later, the sarpanches met Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and submitted a memorandum to him. Responding positively to their demand, Sajjala assured them that he would talk to the Finance department officials.