Kozhikode district panchayat members lay siege to treasury

Say government is not paying bills citing funds crunch

Members of local bodies protest in front of the district treasury in Kozhikode onTuesday against the government’s alleged failure to allocate funds to make payments for various works. Photo: K. Ragesh

Local self-governing bodies led by Mayor A.K. Premajam and district panchayat president K. Jameela on Tuesday laid siege to the district treasury office here claiming that the government had refused to honour their work bills owing to “near empty” State coffers.

Ms. Jameela, who heads the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-led district panchayat, said no funds had been forthcoming, and the panchayat was unable to pay its contractors for completed infrastructure works and welfare projects. “We have outstanding bills to the tune of Rs.76 crore for works done this financial year. This has to be paid off by March 31. Now, the treasury officials say they have no money, and that we should have given them prior notice about the payments by March 22 for bills over Rs.1 crore,” she said.

Ms. Jameela said earlier, there was no practice of giving advance notice. “It is understood that we will have bills to meet by the financial year-end.”

She said many of the works had been done by people who had pawned their jewellery, and it would be unfair to deny them payment for work done.

“Recently, a Rs.4.5-crore project of the district panchayat to provide solar lamps in schools was shelved after the government withdrew its sanction,” Ms. Jameela said.

Ms. Premajam, who presides over an LDF-led Kozhikode Corporation, said similar protests were held outside treasury offices in Kasaragod and Kannur districts on Tuesday.

‘Lax spending’

“When I contacted the treasury department in the State capital, they said a secret circular was given to stop payments. This unproclaimed ban has affected the working of the local self-governing bodies. Our employees will not be paid salaries and essential bills will not be honoured just because the government lavished public money on full-page advertisements and programmes such as Emerging Kerala,” the Mayor said.

No strain: Chennithala

Reacting to questions about the state of the treasury during a press meet here, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala emphatically denied any strain on the State finances. “The allegation that there is a strain on the State treasury is not true. This is the financial year-end, and a routine department circular was issued that payments above Rs.1 crore require sanction from the Finance Department. This does not mean the treasury is going to be closed,” he said.