Lack of development funds puts KMC corporators in a quandary

Four months after the KMC elections, first-time corporators face an acute fund crunch as state allocations stall. Forced to fund sanitation drives out of pocket, representatives are struggling to address drinking water crises and basic civic infrastructure

Kothagudem: The Kothagudem Municipal Corporation (KMC) corporators who made tall promises to get elected in the elections are in a quandary.

As the Congress government failed to allocate and release funds for the development works in the municipal divisions the corporators are finding it difficult to deliver the promises they made and are unable to face the residents in their respective divisions.

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Nearly four months after the victorious corporators took oath of office, there is no sign of development and they seem unable to grasp what is actually happening within the KMC. Many are said to have incurred debts and spent far beyond their means to win the elections.

Among the corporators elected in the elections held in February, nearly 40 are first-timers, hailing from both the ruling and opposition parties. In the KMC, both CPI and Congress share power with the Mayor belonging to CPI and deputy Mayor to Congress.

Those in the ruling party are submitting lists of required development works for their divisions to their senior leadership. They are in a position wherein they could not forcefully demand funds; there is an underlying anxiety about potential repercussions if they speak up.

In addition to that as part of the ongoing 99-day ‘Praja Palana – Pragathi Pranalika’ the corporators were compelled to spend approximately Rs 50,000 out of their own pockets on sanitation works in their divisions during April.

Corporators said that after they met and appealed to corporation officials four or five times, the authorities merely handed over Rs 27,000 to those in Kothagudem limits and washed their hands of the matter. Corporators from Paloncha have not received even a single rupee.

Many of the minor road and drainage repairs currently underway in certain divisions are being funded by allocations made during the previous BRS regime, said a corporator Sagar Malhotra.

Issues such as increasing the number of sanitation workers, monkeys and street dogs menace, repairs to roads, drinking water crisis and others are needed to be addressed. But with lack of funds nothing is moving ahead, said a corporator Sindhu Tapaswi.