Inquire into misuse of panchayat funds by PR officials: Bandi
Hyderabad: State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar in a letter on Tuesday to the Union Minister of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Giriraj Singh demanded an inquiry into the 'misuse' of Panchayat Raj funds by the Telangana government.
In the letter he said the Centre had released 15th Finance Commission funds to gram panchayats in the State a few days back. As per the Panchayat Raj Act, sarpanches are entitled to draw money and spend it for welfare and other development activities in the respective gram panchayats. As per the Central guidelines, the State has opened special bank accounts in every gram panchayat in the name of the sarpanch and upa-sarpanch, who are empowered to draw money based on resolutions of the gram panchayat committee.
Bandi said, as per the norms, the Centre has been allocating and depositing funds to gram panchayats directly, and that 50 per cent of the funds released should be used for laying roads and another 50 per cent for welfare and maintenance activities. "Gram panchayats in the State have received funds from the Centre; this was intimated to them. However, officials of the Panchayat Raj department have misused the digital key of the bank accounts of sarpanches and withdrew money without their knowledge and utilised it for paying power bills already due and also for advance payment of bills. It is also reliably learnt that the State Panchayat Raj officials have also utilised the funds for clearing old dues which are against rules,
The Karimnagar MP said that he had received representations from sarpanches from all parts of Telangana to take necessary steps for re-depositing funds into their accounts.
He alleged that it has become a habit for the State to divert funds allocated by the Centre for gram panchayats as well as other local bodies. Against this backdrop, he sought the intervention of the Union minister to initiate necessary action to protect the rights of the local bodies, as per Constitutional amendments 73 and 74.