HYDERABAD: The Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has criticised the State government for insufficient release of funds to gram panchayats. FGG has urged Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to initiate steps for release of funds as recommended by the State Finance Commission. “Gram panchayats should be allowed to function as institutions of self-governance,” FGG Secretary M Padmanabha Reddy said in a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary.
He wrote said that since the last eight years, not a single report and recommendation of the State Finance Commission has been implemented; the reports are kept in cold storage. “What is happening is the meagre release now being made is shown as courtesy and as an act of grace by the government to the gram panchayats.
This system should change and the gram panchayats should get the funds as their right,” he said.During 2020-21, just Rs 1,662 crore and in 2021-22, Rs 1,357 crore was released, this meagre release is starving the gram panchayats of funds, the FGG secretary said.