Due to severe funding crisis, GPs in Chevella have raised alarm bells

Rangareddy: Contrary to the previous government’s claims that funds were being released for the development of gram panchayats in the state, most of the local bodies in Rangareddy district – which covers the entire Chevella Lok Sabha constituency – have turned into dry wells. Gram Panchayats are finding it difficult to address public issues or perform civic functions due to lack of adequate funds from the state and centre. Also read- Patnam Mahendra Reddy meets Revanth, likely to join Congress Advertisement There are 559 gram panchayats in the district. Most of them survive on the property tax collected from local residents while funds from the state and central governments are either completely missing or long pending. It has been found that neither the local MLAs nor the concerned MP bothered to spend or secure funds for development in many gram panchayats of the district. This left the local bodies completely deprived of resources and were forced to survive only on the property tax they could collect from rural residents. Also Read – Rangareddy: ‘Food security, nutrition key to human survival’ Advertisement Particularly is the case of Moinabad GP which is located close to the state capital and falls under Chevella LS constituency. The population of the panchayat has reached 10 thousand. In 2011 it was 2,516. After the division of Surangal village, the Gram Panchayat came into existence in 1995 with 10 wards. It was reserved for BC women and after state formation it was represented mostly by BRS. Also Read – Woman submits fake certificate to claim 2BHK house in Bahadurpura Though the Moinabad area has seen a strong real estate boom since then, the GP got a raw deal in terms of money. Especially from the previous government. Known for innumerable realty enterprises and farm houses, the area is primarily inhabited by workers from surrounding districts and neighboring states. “Despite four-fold increase in population during the last 13 years, adequate funds were not released to the gram panchayat. It is surviving on the meager revenue it receives through collection of property tax, which is not enough even to pay salaries, leave alone meet the needs of the growing local bodies,” said a GP official. told. Also Read – Rangareddy: Shadnagar’s Government Junior College is a victim of complete neglect “While the GP has been ordered to receive Rs 2 lakh per month from the Central Government, he has not been getting the funds on time for a long time . It has received only Rs 14 lakh in 2023-24 and as a result it is failing to carry out development work on its own. The cherry on top is that the state government has also failed to release funds since last year,” he said. Elaborating on the work done in the last nine years, the official said, “Barely two underground drainage works were done through MPTC funds, while 500 meter CC roads were built from the funds released by the local MLA. Apart from this, two CC roads were constructed under MGNREGA scheme in the last nine years. Unfortunately, no funds were released by the local MP in the last two years. “Whatever revenue is being collected through property tax is not even enough to pay salaries and meet miscellaneous expenses,” the official said, adding that the revenue of Rs 25 lakh in 2023-24 would be Rs. The property tax target is only Rs 8.75 lakh.” Only 35% of the collection has been collected so far.”