Tucked away in the forest belt of the district, the tribal sub-plan mandal of Gundala, considered one of the backward areas of Telangana, achieved 100% property tax collection in the current fiscal.
The mandal bagged the cash incentive for cent percent tax collection last year. Gundala mandal comprising six gram panchayats – Markodu, Shettypalli, Gundala, Sayanapally, Allapalli and Ananthogu recorded 100 % property tax collection of ₹ 5.59 lakh in the present financial year.
Though the volume of the total tax collected appears modest, the feat achieved by the underdeveloped mandal was no mean feat considering that poor tribal peasants constitute the majority of the tax payers.
Despite their meagre income, the villagers paid their taxes promptly highlighting their developmental aspirations, said Komaram Shantaiah, Sarpanch of Gundala Gram Panchayat.
Of the total 205 gram panchayats in the district, only 30 gram panchayats, mostly located in the tribal sub-plan area of the district, realised their annual tax revenue so far in the present fiscal.
Major gram panchayats including Bhadrachalam are lagging behind in collection of property taxes.
The Bhadrachalam gram panchayat has recorded a tax collection of only 40% till date.
The gram panchayats in Kothagudem mandal have collected ₹ 1.51 crore as against the total demand of ₹ 1.93 crore.
The mandal headquarters town of Gundala is devoid of even a single branch of any nationalised bank, Government degree college, fire station and other essential facilities, he rued, deploring that the old age pensioners were the major sufferers of lack of nationalised bank services.
One has to travel a distance of at least 30 km to avail the services of the nationalised bank at Kachanapally, he pointed out.
A significant share of the 14th Finance Commission grant had been spent on payment of a part of the electricity bill arrears, leaving inadequate funds at the disposal of the panchayats to spend on maintenance of the local drinking water schemes and street-lights, said Chandraiah, sarpanch of Ananthogu.
Several villages are still craving for three-phase power for irrigation purpose, he said, adding that the Government should fulfil the development needs of tribal people by releasing adequate grants to the panchayats to strengthen the vital institutions of local government.
After missing a slew of deadlines, the long delayed work on the development of the road between Gundala and Yellendu is finally inching towards completion, he said with a sense of relief.
The mandal is poised to get the cash incentive for the consecutive second year, said RASP Latha, District Panchayat Officer.
Cash incentive of ₹ 65 lakh would be disbursed among the 33 gram panchayats which excelled in tax collection in the last fiscal, she said.
The Government has released the second instalment of ₹ 14.98 crore grant to the 205 gram panchayats from the 14th Finance Commission allocation.
