Telangana government releases pending arrears of ₹1,190 cr to gram panchayats

Hyderabad: With elections looming, the state government on Tuesday released arrears ₹1,190 crore to gram panchayats at one go amid Opposition allegations of the ruling party starving local bodies of funds.

These arrears were accumulated over the last year, causing huge resentment among sarpanches who often pay for development work from their pockets.
Following the directions of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to resolve the issue of arrears, ministers T. Harish Rao and Errabelli Dayakar Rao held a meeting on Tuesday at the Secretariat to finalise the modalities for release of funds, gram panchayat-wise.

Expressing happiness at the move, the Telangana Sarpanches Association thanked the Chief Minister for issuing instructions to ministers and officials for release of pending arrears at one go.

Sarpanches were at loggerheads with the state government over the issue of unpaid monies. While some sarpanches threatened to launch an agitation, a few others threatened to resign enmasse, especially in the undivided Medak district which is represented by Chandrashekar Rao and Harish Rao, demanding the release of the arrears The sarpanches' contention was that they had borrowed or raised funds privately to undertake development programmes in villages to meet targets under Palle Pragathi. With the government defaulting on finances and not clearing their bills, they were facing financial difficulties.

The state government is planning to launch the next phase of Palle Pragathi from June or July and the sarpanches have threatened to boycott the programme if their bills are not cleared.

Against this backdrop, the government decided to clear the pending bills at one go.