BJP Legislative Party leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy has demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy ensure the release of funds to Gram Panchayats, which are grappling with a severe financial crisis. He also emphasised the need to clear pending salaries and wages for multi-purpose workers and outsourced employees, besides clearing the pending bills related to development works in villages.
Mr. Maheshwar Reddy warned that the BJP would organize agitations if the salaries of sanitary and other workers were not paid within a week.
In a letter to the Chief Minister on Monday, the BJP MLA from Nirmal demanded the release of nearly ₹2,000 crore pending from the State Finance Commission (SFC) to the Gram Panchayats. He also urged the payment of honorariums to former sarpanches, MPTCs, and ZPTCs, noting that many former sarpanches had spent their own money on development projects under the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule as the then government had failed to release the funds.
He highlighted that the lack of funds had halted critical services in villages, leading to drinking water shortages, uncollected garbage and non-functional streetlights. Major panchayats are also struggling to maintain adequate numbers of sanitation workers, causing delays in essential services.
He alleged that the Gram Panchayats are not able to clear the garbage due to scarcity of funds, resulting in garbage piles. “Unless funds are released immediately, the situation will be out of control, potentially leading to an outbreak of seasonal diseases,” he said and reminded that several former sarpanches had even met the Chief Minister as well as the Governor in May seeking the release of funds and clearance of pending bills, but to no avail.
