HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday pointed out that central funds released to gram panchayats was a constitutional obligation and not a mercy from the central government.
Intervening during question hour in the assembly, the CM said, “There is nothing like central government funding. It is a constitutional obligation that the central government was implementing in releasing funds to states. The finance commission of India decides the funding as part of constitutional obligation. It is the right of the states,” CM KCR said.
The CM urged the Congress members not to mislead the people by making claims that employment guarantee scheme (EGS) funds for gram panchayats were being diverted to other sectors. He said that it only revealed Congress members’ lack of knowledge.
KCR’s intervention came while panchayat raj minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao was replying to queries by Congress’ Bhatti Vikramarka, D Sridhar Babu and D Anasuya who sought to know whether Rs 15,738 crore funds released under EGS to gram panchayats in Telangana were diverted to other sectors.
Dubbing the Congress’ allegation of diversion of funds as baseless, the CM countered, “In fact, the previous Congress governments created an alternate power centre due to which gram panchayats were left powerless. Due to the wrong policies of previous Congress governments, there are Rs 2,000 crore power dues of gram panchayats even today.”
