Sarpanches decry delay in transfer of Central funds by state
Andhra Pradesh Sarpanches Welfare Association president Chilakalapudi Papa Rao addressing the media at office of panchayat raj and rural development at Tadepalli on Wednesday
Tadepalli : The people of interior villages across the state are facing the problem of drinking water supply but the state government is yet to release the funds it had received from the Central government to the village panchayats.
It may be recalled that the Union ministry of panchayat raj and rural development released funds of Rs 998.84 crore exactly 30 days ago to the stage government for passing the funds down to the village panchayats. The sarpanches have been running from pillar to post to get funds in order to undertake several works in their respective villages particularly to supply drinking water to the villagers.
A group of sarpanches headed by Andhra Pradesh Sarpanches Welfare Association state president Chilakalapudi Papa Rao and chairman of AP Panchayat Parishad Dr Jasti Veeranjaneyulu met the additional commissioner of panchayat raj and rural development M Sudhakar and submitted a memorandum to him appealing to him to solve the problem.
The sarpanches wanted to know where the funds meant for the village panchayats and the local bodies have gone. The higher officials informed the sarpanches that the Finance department did not clear the tokens to pass down the funds.
Later, addressing the media, Papa Rao said that the state government has been causing inconvenience to the village panchayats for the last one month without releasing the funds to them. They wanted to know the reasons for not releasing funds to the village panchayats and demanded immediate release of funds.
Dr Jasti Veeranjaneyulu recalled that the Central government released the funds on March 28 to the state government. They had already appealed to the commissioner of panchayat raj on April 12 and Chief Electoral officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on April 13 to order the release of funds. Mukesh Kumar Meena issued UO Note to the principal secretary Sasibhushan Kumar to release the funds on April 19 but nothing happened. He recalled that they had also submitted a memorandum to the officer on special duty (OSD) of the secretary of finance department.
The sarpanches appealed to the finance department to release the funds keeping in view the suffering of people in the villages.
Sarpanches Chandu Venkata Sambasiva Rao, Nallapati Lalita Kumari, Korrapati Ashok Kumar and others were present.