CHENNAI:State Minister for Municipal Administration, SP Velumani on Tuesday sought relaxation of Central government regulations on utilisation of 15th Central Finance Commission (CFC) grants.He was speaking at a pan-India deliberation on Panchayat Finances, headed by Minister for Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar, in Delhi.
Stating that the 14th CFC funds were instrumental in building parks, amenities and houses in panchayats, Velumani asked for a broad framework to further improve the autonomous functioning of the State government.
He observed that only village panchayats have powers to collect taxes independently and that district panchayats are completely dependent on State or Central Funding to function.Highlighting that the State ranked second in devolution (delegation of adminstration) as per the annual publication brought out by Ministry of Panchayat Raj on status of devolution across the States for 2015-16, he claimed that the Fifth State Finance Commission had recommended devolution of 10 per cent of State’s own tax revenue to local bodies in the State.
Of this, 52 per cent is allocated to rural local bodies.“For rural local bodies to function as effective units of local self government, it is imperative that the funds devolved upon them are commensurate with their responsibilities and functions entrusted to them,” he said.Meeting with Minister for Urban Affairs Velumani, who also met the Minister of State for Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri in Delhi, thanked him for selecting all 12 municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu for implementation of Smart City Project.
Velumani said the Smart City project was “IT centric” and called for a pan city development which would include underground sewerage, water supply and smart bus stands.Velumani also requested powers for the State Smart City Board to procure “people-friendly” buses.