Zilla, Mandal Parishads in Telangana to get more power: CM KCR
Hyderabad: In a major move to empower local bodies in the State, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced that Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads will be strengthened further to play an active role in rural development. Funds will be allocated to both Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads along with specific functions soon as was being done in the case of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and gram panchayats to facilitate rapid development, the Chief Minister said, and asserted that funds will be allocated to Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads in the 2021-22 budget.
Addressing a review meeting on measures to be taken to strengthen local bodies at Pragati Bhavan here, Chandrashekhar Rao said the State government had taken a policy decision to strengthen local bodies and was implementing it now. Funds allocated by the Finance Commission to the gram panchayats and the municipalities, he said, were being directly transferred to the respective local bodies.
“About Rs 308 crore to gram panchayats and another Rs 148 crore to municipalities are being released every month without fail. As a result, programmes like Pattana Pragathi and Palle Pragathi are being implemented in a smooth manner,” he said, and pointed out that gram panchayats were now equipped with facilities like tractors, dumping yards, nurseries and Vaikuntadhamams.
On similar lines, Chandrashekhar Rao proposed to release funds sanctioned by the Finance Commission separately to Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads. Stating that more funds can be pooled by linking certain works with MGNREGS, he said: “Besides releasing funds, we will also assign specific functions to both these local bodies. The authorities should come up with their suggestions in this regard. Subsequently, I will personally discuss these suggestions with Zilla Parishad chairpersons and elicit their views. Based on the final decision, the State government will take steps to further activate Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads as a whole and increase their participation in rural development programmes that will earn them respect.”
The Chief Minister directed the officials to strictly implement the new Panchayat Raj Act which empowers gram panchayats to utilise funds sanctioned to them to the fullest extent possible without seeking any approval from the mandal or the district level authorities. “The new Panchayat Raj Act has been brought in to empower gram panchayats and to prevent their dependence on mandal or district level officials for sanction of works. But it was observed that the old laws are being enforced in some places where officials are still insisting that gram panchayats must seek their permission for works exceeding Rs two lakh. This is against the new law. Gram panchayats have the right to use their funds to the fullest to meet the needs of their village. The authorities should clarify on this issue once again,” he said.
Forests Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary for Finance K Ramakrishna Rao, Panchayat Raj Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, commissioner Raghunandan Rao, CMO Secretary Smitha Sabharwal, Government Whips Guvvala Balaraju and Balka Suman, MLAs Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, D Chinnaiah, N Diwakar Rao, Banoth Shankar Naik, B Harshavardhan Reddy and others were present.
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