Minister for Local Administration Paloli Mohammed Kutty has urged local self-government institutions to look out for new areas of generating income without burdening the people with new levies.
Addressing a meeting of planning experts and officials called here on Friday for gathering ideas for fixing the terms of reference of the Fourth State Finance Commission (FSFC), he said the local bodies now had a vast field of activity. He said the local bodies were the most effective conduit to take the benefits of some of the Central schemes, but unfortunately, most of these schemes were designed to suit north Indian conditions. “To utilise Rs.100 crore under such programmes, we have to find another Rs.150 crore of our own,” he said.
V. Ramachandran, Member of the second Administrative Reforms Commission of the Union government and former Kerala Chief Secretary, spoke about the need to lift the capacity of local bodies in handling administration and accounts and implementing development programmes.
Chairman of the FSFC M.A. Oommen, Principal Consultant at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy O.P. Mathur, Local Administration Principal Secretary S.M. Vijayanand and Member of FSFC Ishita Roy also addressed the inaugural function. The meeting will continue on Saturday.
