Krishnaiah seeks Rs 5k-cr outlay for panchayats

Musheerabad: National BC Welfare Association president R Krishnaiah on Thursday demanded allocation of Rs 5,000 crore budget to gram panchayats, immediate sanction of cheque powers to sarpanches and payment of salaries to GP employees which have been pending for the last four months.

In an appeal to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao through a letter, the former MLA urged the government to release budged ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 60 lakh to each gram panchayat for providing basic facilities, road repairs and water supply. He said although new sarpanches were elected four months back they were not able to take up development works without cheque powers.

He stated that with day weather peaking, people in rural areas were suffering because of water shortage, with groundwater levels dipping and many villages not getting the Mission Bhageeratha water supply. Consequently, the sarpanches were being forced to raise loans to sink borewells or repair damaged ones in the absence of cheque powers.

Krishnaiah alleged that officials were citing the election code as an excuse for denying powers to sarpanches. He claimed that there was no bar for the government to spend 14th Finance Commission funds and other grants.