Seethakka, Harish duel over funds to sarpanches

Hyderabad: The BRS members staged a walkout from the Assembly on Monday, alleging the government's failure to give a proper answer on funds due to sarpanches in the State.

The issue of payments to sarpanches came up during the question hour, when T Harish Rao sought to know the dues of sarpanches during the last year.

Panchayat Raj Minister Dhanasri Anasuya (Seethakka) said the total bills to be paid to sarpanches of gram panchayats up to November 1, 2024, were Rs 691.93 crore. She said that there were pending bills because of the BRS government.

“Harish Rao was the finance minister in the BRS government, and one signature was enough to give funds to the sarpanches, but they failed to give the same,” said Seethakka, adding Rs 740 crore was sanctioned by the government and Rs 450 crore under NREGS was also released. The Centre did not release funds under the 15th Finance Commission.

Expressing sympathy towards the sarpanches, she said that because of the non-release of funds, the BRS was named as ‘Bakila Rashtra Samithi.’

Responding, Rao said the BRS government released Rs 275 crore every month to gram panchayats. Had the Congress given the same funds every month, the situation would not have arisen. Alleging that no proper reply was given, the BRS members walked out.

Later, the Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu recalled that the Congress formed a government in December; the term of the sarpanches ended in February. “If the BRS released Rs 275 crore every month, why was there a situation of pending dues,” he asked.