Karnal: District Council councilors created a ruckus over grant distribution

Karnal: There was a ruckus over the distribution of grants in the general meeting of the Zila Parishad held at the Panchayat Bhawan on Friday. Some councillors accused Chairperson Pravesh Kumari Rana of partiality in the allocation of development funds. They said that the chairperson, who has the authority to approve grants, allocated the amount to only 3-4 councillors. They said that due to this other councillors were not able to get any grant. The councillors rejected the existing system for approval and demanded the formation of a committee to monitor the process. The meeting was chaired by Chairperson Rana, while it was conducted by CEO Vivek Chaudhary. Out of a total of 26 councillors, 22 councillors attended the meeting, while four ex-officio members including Nilokheri MLA and three chairmen of block committees were present. A total of 17 councillors supported the proposal, while nine opposed it. As a result, a committee of the chairman, vice-chairman and a councillor of ward 10 was formed to approve grants for works proposed by councillors, CEO Chaudhary said. Choudhary said 11 agendas were discussed in the meeting and ten were approved unanimously. However, the administrative power to approve the budget for development works was given to the newly formed three-member committee. The councillors alleged that the chairman was being biased in the distribution of grants. Ward 5 councillor Amit Barana said he would meet the chief minister to seek details about the grants distributed so far. Councillor Sachin Budhanpur said the grants were not distributed equally among the councillors, and welcomed the formation of the new committee. Vice-chairman Reena Kharkali said the councillors had unanimously given the power of administrative approval to the chairman; however, the House had decided to withdraw the power. The Zila Parishad president’s husband, Sohan Singh Rana, said he would not accept the new committee and claimed that the grants were distributed equally. He said the formation of the committee was illegal.