HYDERABAD: Accusing the BRS of “dismantling” Panchayat Raj institutions by depriving them of funds and stripping powers of sarpanches when it was in power, Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday said that the Congress dispensation is committed to reviving the past glory of the Panchayat Raj system in line with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts.
Addressing a series of meetings after inaugurating panchayat and anganwadi buildings in Huzurnagar constituency, he also said that the government would waive penalties on property tax and house tax arrears in gram panchayats, municipalities and corporations across the state as promised in the Congress election manifesto.
Criticising the previous government, Uttam said that the BRS government had diverted the revenues of gram panchayats for other purposes under the guise of reforms by introducing the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018. He said that several sarpanches had to undertake developmental works using their own funds or borrowed money, resulting in unpaid bills amounting to over thousands of crores.
Funds diverted
He said that the diversion of funds had pushed the sarpanches into huge debts. The sarpanches had to raise funds on their own to pay salaries of sanitation staff in villages, undertake development activities such as Haritha Haram, Prakruthi Vanam, road laying and maintenance, and sanitation activities in thousands of gram panchayats, he added.
“Almost all sarpanches in Telangana fell into a debt trap as they raised funds through private lenders and mortgaged their properties to undertake village development activities. When the Centre credited the Finance Commission grants directly into the bank accounts of gram panchayats, the BRS government fraudulently diverted the amount into its accounts without their notice instead of clearing pending bills,” he alleged.