Sarpanches bear the burden of pending bills of Grampanchayats

Nizamabad: While the government is enthusiastic about the launch of fifth phase of Palle Pragathi programme from June 3, the sarpapanches are least interested in taking part in the whole affair.

Reason? The nonpayment of pending bills of the development works done by panchayats. The government has not paid those bills for many months and the management of the panchayats is becoming a burden for them in absence of support from the government.

The Gram Panchayats are facing financial difficulties due to non-receipt of timely bills for works done to provide quality services to the villagers.

Many sarpanchs are complaining that they are not able to bear the burden of interest as some work bills have not been received for six months to two years. Although lakhs of funds are found in the accounts, the sarpanch say that they are not authorized to withdraw them.

The Telangana government is preparing for the "Pallepragati" programme. They want to pay the pending bills in this context. Many sarpanchs openly say that if payments are not made development work will be hampered.

The sarpanchs are in trouble as the government is not paying the bills for the work done. The gram panchayat sarpanchs of Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts have said that bills ranging from at least Rs 2 lakh to Rs 30 lakh are pending.

Works like cemeteries, dumping yards, Palle Prakruthi Vanalu, segregation sheds, CC roads, Rythu Vedikas, social forest avenu planting were done with MNREGS funds. The day-to-day maintenance of drainages, other structures, drinking water supply, etc was done from the funds of the 15th Finance Commission, the State Finance Commission and local taxes.

It will take three months to prepare the measurement book (MB) records after the development works are completed. Checks are coming in for another three months after that. Many sarpanchs in Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts are angry that it takes one year to two year for the cheques to cash in and they have to go into debt.

The sarpanchs say that funds are in the accounts of the panchayats but they are not allowed to withdraw them.

Local public representatives say the situation was caused by unauthorised freezing in the treasuries.

We have cleared all the bills by the end of March. All those bills were rejected. Sarpanches said the authorities had instructed them to submit the MBs again and submit the cheques.

It is said that the online site was not open till the 10th of this month along with the whole month of April and the server was busy. MBs are being uploaded after the site opens after May 10. But the payments of the bills are not coming.

Another dilemma that the sarpanchs are facing that most of them are from the ruling TRS party and they are not able to demand the government strongly.

They are hiding the pain so that there will be no conflict with the government. Kamareddy district Domakonda panchayat has Rs 9.63 lakh bills pending.

The villagers said that due to non-payment of bills for the last two months, the sarpanchs have to go into debt to pay for multi-purpose workers, electricity bills and diesel. Lakkora villagers said that a bill of Rs 9.10 lakh was pending for the construction of Rythu Vedika.

If you look at the Nizamabad district Palada panchayat, there are pending street lighting bills and CC roads bills paid here a year ago.

A Palada village ward member, on condition of anonymity, said bills related to drainages and Rythu vedikas which were completed a year ago and bills for cemeteries amounting to lakhs of rupees were pending.

A gram sarpanch in Bodhan mandal said bills of up to Rs 20 lakh have been pending for two years.

Most of the village sarpanchs in the district are in dire straits with pending bills. While the district administration is gearing up for Palle Pragathi, sarpanches on the other hand are facing financial crisis.

The gram panchayats are in a dilemma of not being able to give at least tea biscuits to the officials who come to the villages.

Many sarpanchs have demanded government to make payment of the pending bills before the launch of the fifth edition of Palle Pragathi programme in the State.