Hyderabad: A team of officials from the 15th Finance Commission, headed by Mr Nanda Kishore Singh, met officials of several departments and organisations as well as political leaders on Monday to hear their suggestions.
On Sunday, chief secretary S.K. Joshi, and principal secretary of the finance department K. Rama Krishna Rao welcomed the team at Shamshabad airport. The Commission will be in the state till Tuesday.
Some of the Finance Commission members visited Medigadda reservoir and the prestigious Kaleshwaram irrigation project on Sunday. The Finance Commission will meet Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and officials of various departments on Tuesday at Jubilee hall. They met officials from the panchayat raj, urban development and industries departments on Monday.
Hyderabad mayor Bonthu Rammohan requested that funds be allotted for Hyderabad’s roads and for the improvement of the city’s drainage system. He also asked for funds for the construction of new flyovers in the city through the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) project, and funds for development of parks in Hyderabad.
In the meeting with officials in the urban development department, members of the Finance Commission discussed the impact of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on urban local bodies due to issues like subsuming of entertainment tax and compensation to urban local bodies by the state government. They also discussed the issue of supply of free water across the state, and the functioning of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs) set up by the state government for various projects.
The meeting was focused on the State Finance Commission constituted on March 16, 2015, which is yet to submit its report. The visiting members were told that the main source of revenue of the urban local bodies are their own tax and non- tax revenue. Officials told them that the state government has been releasing funds currently as per the recommendations of the state finance commission.
Regarding Panchayat Raj institutions, the discussion was on strengthening local self governance in the state. Officials of the department informed the commission that only 10 out of 29 functions envisaged in the 11th Schedule of the Constitution devol-ved to Panchayat Raj Institutions.
Telangana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and others met the Finance Commission and highlighted the need to resolve all issues related to the backwardness of Telangana state. Mr Vikramarka requested that funds be allotted for the Bayyaram steel plant and the railway coach factory as was assured in the bifurcation act. He also asked that Pranahitha and Chevella be recognised as 'national projects' like Polavaram in Andhra Pradesh.
