VIJAYAWADA: The State government is working on a plan to allocate funds collected by Urban Development Authorities (UDAs) in the form of fees towards the development of villages falling under their jurisdiction.
Currently, municipal departments collect various fees for approvals and permissions in panchayat areas under UDAs. However, there are no clear guidelines on how these funds should be spent for rural development, leading to uncertainty over their utilisation.
To address this, Municipal Administration Minister Narayana held a review meeting with senior officials from the Municipal and Panchayat Raj departments. Officials discussed the need to quickly finalise the fee amounts payable to panchayats and agreed that further consultations would be held with Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan before moving forward. It was decided that from the coming financial year, funds collected in villages under UDAs will be earmarked specifically for the development of those villages.
The move is expected to bring clarity to fund utilisation and ensure that revenue generated from rural areas is reinvested in their growth and infrastructure.
The meeting was attended by Municipal Department Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar, Director Sampath Kumar, and many others.