11,000 Crore To Telangana Panchayats In Last Decade: Kishan Reddy

Union Minister Kishan Reddy welcomed the Union government's decision to release funds to local bodies in Telangana, and said that it reflected the Centre's commitment to strengthening grassroots democracy.

"Following the recent completion of local body elections in Telangana, the Union government will soon release the first instalment for 2024-25, amounting to Rs 260 crore. Once the utilisation certificates for these funds are submitted, the remaining Rs 2,500 crore will also be released in phases. The utilisation certificates for the funds released during the 2023-24 financial year have already been submitted," he said.

Expressing his happiness, Reddy said, "I welcome the Central government's positive decision to release funds for strengthening the gram panchayats and local bodies in Telangana. Over the past decade, the Central government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has released more than Rs 11,000 crore to gram panchayats and local bodies in the State."

Providing details, the Union minister claimed that the Centre had released Rs 5,060 crore to gram panchayats in Telangana between 2015-16 and 2019-20, and that allocations had increased by nearly 80% to Rs 9,050 crore between 2020-21 and 2025-26, of which Rs 6,051 crore had already been released.

Reddy said that the Union government firmly believed that strengthening democratic institutions at the grassroots level would enhance accountability and transparency, and that it was in that spirit that funds had been released to local bodies in a timely manner right from the beginning.

The Union minister added that, as per Union government regulations, every gram panchayat needed to compulsorily open a separate bank account for the utilisation of these funds, which needed to be registered on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal to obtain a unique agency code.

Alleging irregularities by the previous BRS government, Reddy said that gram panchayat accounts had been seized and funds diverted for other purposes in its tenure. "As a result, many sarpanches resigned as they did not receive funds for the works undertaken during their tenure. Some sarpanches even committed suicides. That was extremely unfortunate," he said.

He urged the Telangana government to take the necessary precautions, cooperate with the Union government's rural development initiatives, and take proactive steps to strengthen infrastructure in the gram panchayats and rural areas.