Will put zilla and mandal parishads back on the track, asserts Buggana

Karnataka, Maharashtra models being studied, says the Finance Minister

June 19, 2019 11:36 pm | Updated 11:36 pm IST - Kurnool

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy addressing the ZP general body meeting in Kurnool.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy addressing the ZP general body meeting in Kurnool.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged that the Zilla Parishads (ZP) and Mandal Parishads have been completely ignored in the past five years. Plans are being drawn up to empower the local bodies in the State, he added. Addressing the ZP general body meeting here on Wednesday, Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said funds from the government were hitherto directly reaching panchayats which resulted in drying up of the coffers of zilla and mandal parishads. “ The Finance Department is studying the practices in vogue in Karnataka and Maharashtra and will implement those suitable for Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

‘No scope for bias’

Taking pot-shots at the previous TDP government, he said Janmabhoomi committees took economic powers away from ZP, MP, and panchayats. “The identification of beneficiaries must be done by local bodies, but it was done by committee members,” he said.

In contrast, that the village secretariat system being introduced by the YSR Congress Party government would help in empowering the local bodies. “The new system is designed to only be a welfare distribution system. It would not have the power to identify beneficiaries,” said Mr. Reddy.

The new system would be implemented without any bias as any person eligible for welfare would get it irrespective of one’s political affiliations. “All the members of zilla and mandal parishads and panchayats would get their allocated amounts regardless of their political affiliations,” he said.

He utilised the occasion to express gratitude to YSRCP representatives for helping the party sweep the elections in the district.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.