Annual grant for GPs to be hiked - RDPR Minister Jagadish Shettar

Annual grant for GPs to be hiked - RDPR Minister Jagadish Shettar

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 30, 2011 : Jagadish Shettar, the rural development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) minister, visited Kinnigoli’s solid waste management unit and announced that, once the 13th Finance Commission Report is implemented, each GP in the state will receive more than the present annual fund of Rs. 8 lakh.

 

Further, he said that the RDPR Department, which has received this report, is mulling over allotting grants to GPs as per their population.

Stating that the government has raised the annual allotment of funds from Rs. 6 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh, the minister said that these funds will be granted in three scales of Rs. 9 lakh, Rs. 12 lakh, and Rs. 15 lakh based on the population in each GP.

Referring to A. G. Kodgi’s Third Finance Commission report as a model report, he said that the government will implement its recommendations at the GP level. When it is implemented, the TPs and ZPs, which are currently receiving annual grants of Rs. 1 crore, will start receiving Rs. 2 crore each. The government will also raise the funds allotted for TPs and ZPs in the next budget, he added.

Mr. Shettar also announced that the RDPR Department has issued a circular to all panchayats to be transparent in their functioning. The GPs have been urged to organize Gram Sabhas regularly and video record the proceedings so that the higher authorities can monitor the happenings in the panchayats. The selection procedure for beneficiaries of various welfare schemes should also be made as transparent as possible, he stated.

Regarding the status of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS) in Karnataka, Mr. Shettar said that, of the Rs. 2000 crore sanctioned by the centre for the utilization of MGNREGS, the state has utilized only Rs. 1000 and will utilize the rest by March.

Speaking about tax collection in panchayats, he said that, according to the 13th Finance Commission Report, the tax collection percentage in panchayats should not fall below 40 percent.

K. T. Shailaja Bhat, the president of the ZP; Dr. Vijay Prakash, the CEO of ZP; and MLA K. Abhayachandra Jain were also present.