The State government on Wednesday renewed its request to the Centre to release funds due to the local bodies in the State even as it promised to accord “top priority” for the Union government’s flagship programmes for rural development.
Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani submitted a memorandum in this regard to Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday.
A month ago, he had submitted a petition to the Union Minister stating that in the absence of funds, the government was not able to take up welfare schemes.
During the meeting on Wednesday, he presented the same argument to the Centre which had earlier informed the State government that the second instalment of basic grant for 2017-18 could be considered only after the elected gram panchayats were in place.
Contending that the conduct of local body elections had been delayed “on account of multiple litigations pending in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court”, the government claimed in the memorandum that the Special Officers appointed were discharging the functions of the local bodies in the “best possible manner.”
In view of the legal impediments, Mr. Velumani asked the Union Minister to recommend to the Ministry of Finance to release the second instalment of basic grant of ₹758.06 crore and the performance grant of ₹194.78 crore for 2017-18 and the first instalment of the basic grant of ₹876.94 crore for 2018-19 for Tamil Nadu.
Pointing to various development works that were nearing completion, he said the State required funds to settle the bills. He also referred to the requests made to Prime Minister over the issue, who “accepted to consider our request for the release of the 14th Central Finance Commission Grants to Tamil Nadu favourably.”
Coal allocation
Meanwhile, Electricity Minister P. Thangamani and Mr. Velumani also called on Union Minister Railway and Coal Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Wednesday seeking additional coal supply and allocation of coal blocks in Odisha to Tamil Nadu, an official release said.
The State government also insisted on the inclusion of those left out from the Socio-Economic Caste Consensus (SECC) data under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin).
