Panchayat in GTA area to get over Rs 2oo cr fund: Minister
Darjeeling: The Panchayat in the GTA area will receive a fund of around Rs 250 crore, announed Pradip Mazumdar, minister in-charge of Panchayat and Rural Development during the inauguration programme of a two-day-long workshop on Panchayat Raj in Darjeeling, on Thursday.
“Through both the 15th Finance Commission and the State Finance Commission, the Panchayat system will be provided with another Rs 204 crore very shortly. There will be an infusion of Rs 35 crore for development of Self-Help-Groups and empowerment of women. Earlier, the GTA had received Rs 160 crore for building roads in the Hills from other funds,” stated Mazumdar.
The Panchayat minister along with Aroop Biswas, minister in-charge of Power and Anit Thapa, Chief Executive, GTA inaugurated the two-day-long workshop at the Gorkha Ranga Mancha Bhawan in Darjeeling on Thursday.
“In order to herald in a new dawn in the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was always keen on establishing Panchayat Raj in the Hills for the benefit of people. For this, when she tried to bring an amendment in the Assembly, the Opposition parties put in immense resistance. However, after a long gap of 22 years finally the Panchayat election was held along with the rest of the state and a two-tier Panchayat system has been established in the Hills,” stated the Panchayat minister.
He said that the state government had written to the Centre for an amendment of the Indian Constitution to reinstate the three-tier Panchayat system in the Hills. “We have also sent a number of reminders but the Centre just does not act on it,” added Mazumdar.
He stated the Centre has been victimising Bengal by stopping funds that rightfully belong to the state. “They stopped MGNREGA funds claiming that there is a huge number of ghost job cards in Bengal. Interestingly, their own figures show that 99.5 per cent plus job cards of Bengal are Aadhaar-seeded. In states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, a mere 60 to 80 per cent job cards are Aadhaar-seeded but the Centre does not level such allegations and stop their funds there. These states should be bracketed and their funds stopped,” stated Mazumdar.
The Panchayat minister stressed on the need to maintain records and transparency. “This would help us support our claims with documentary evidence. Owing to the Centre’s policies, we have to find our own source of revenue generation,” he stated.
Echoing similar sentiments Aroop Biswas, without naming the BJP-led Union government, stated: “Just because we are not with you, you send CBI and ED but this will not be forever. In 2024, there will definitely be a change. We will agitate in every block for what is rightfully ours. The Centre has to release our funds, including MGNREGA money. People have toiled hard for it. We have asked Anit Thapa to organise protests in every block of GTA for this.”
