60 crore released for panchayats, says Collector

Eluru: District Collector K Bhaskar said that the 14th Finance Commission has sanctioned Rs.60 crore for completing developmental works at gram panchayats in the district.

While addressing a review meeting of panchayats’ development programmes held here at the Collector’s meeting hall on Friday, the Collector stated that out of total amount sanctioned by the 14th Finance Commission, Rs.30 crore wound be spent on the construction of CC roads in villages. He directed officials to spend the remaining Rs.30 crore on various developmental activities.

Switching over to LED bulb system would help in minimizing the power consumption, he suggested. He directed mandal officials to complete the geotagging process of 7.30 lakh houses in rural areas within three weeks. The Collector expressed his dissatisfaction with officials over geo-tagging of mere 33,000 houses. He warned the officers who are on extension (EORD) saying that if they failed to complete geotagging of 1.50 lakh houses by next week, stringent action would be initiated against them.

He expressed his anger over the deteriorating sanitation conditions in panchayats as scores of complaints received from the public on the same. He directed officials to take up cleanliness programme in villages and shift garbage to dumping yards.

Turning his attention to tax collection earnings, the Collector directed District Panchayat Officer, Sudhakar to recover tax arrears for the earlier financial periods of 2014-15, 2015-16. He instructed them to recover 70 percent amount from the salaries of secretaries every month and 30 percent from EORDs. District Panchayat Officer K Sudhakar, Divisional Officials Rajyalakshmi, K Ammaji, M Suryanarayana and EORDs participated in the review meeting.