Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir are among the six states that have not released central funds sanctioned for panchayati raj institutions, Union rural development minister Birender Singh said on Tuesday.
“This is against the provisions of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations,” Singh told IANS on the sidelines of a function here. Other states that have withheld the funds are Congress-ruled Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Left-ruled Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh, ruled by People’s Party of Arunachal supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Punjab is ruled by the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance while Jammu and Kashmir has a Peoples Democratic Party-BJP alliance government. The 14th Finance Commission had recommended allocation of funds to the panchayat raj institutions to improve services provided by the village bodies, an official said.
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The minister said funds earmarked for panchayats “cannot be retained with the state governments for long”. “There is no provision for the Centre to take action (against erring state). In a federal system, we have sanctioned and released the money/funds,” Birender said.
{{/usCountry}}The minister said funds earmarked for panchayats “cannot be retained with the state governments for long”. “There is no provision for the Centre to take action (against erring state). In a federal system, we have sanctioned and released the money/funds,” Birender said.
{{/usCountry}}A source said the Centre released funds for Himachal Pradesh on January 1 and for Uttarakhand on February 18. “For other states, the central allocation was done by the first half of June,” he said.
Earlier, the minister released the “outcome report” on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for the 2015-16 fiscal. The report said that “the pace of person-days generation with a major focus on water conservation and harvesting measures has been impressive. It is expected to generate nearly 75 crore person-days of wage employment during the current quarter (four months period)”.
Birender said “people’s interest in MGNREGA scheme has been renewed” during the last two years due to the proactive interest shown by the National Democratic Alliance government.
“There was lack of enthusiasm towards the MGNREGA due to leaks and other issues before we took over (in May 2014). But in the last two years, things have changed and people’s interest in the scheme is back,” the minister said.
Birender said the person-days average had dropped from 212 crore person-days to 150, which now will be increased to 235 crore person-days.
When pointed out that only 49 workdays have so far been generated nationally as against a target of 100 workdays, the minister said: “Whatever you say, there is a visible improvement. The 49 days is the highest so far since the scheme took off. The highest workdays under the previous United Progressive Alliance government were 46 days.”