Panchayat Parishad threatens to boycott BJP
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 26 2021: The Manipur State Panchayat Parishad has threatened to boycott BJP in the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly election if the pending liabilities/funds of local bodies are not released by January 10 next year before the election code of conduct comes into force.

Speaking to media persons at Panchayat Bhavan, Porompat today, Manipur State Panchayat Parishad Executive Member and Sagolband Sapam Leirak Gram Panchayat Pradhan Athokpam Bishorjit said that they have been asking authorities concerned of the Government, apart from submitting many memoranda, to release pending liabilities/funds of Central sponsored schemes since three/four months back.

But the local bodies' demand has not been fulfilled satisfactorily till date, he said.

Even as the Central Government sanctioned over Rs 333 crore under MGNREGS for 2021-22 on August 25 this year, the State Government released just Rs 110 in the last week of October and the remaining amount has not been released so far, Bishorjit said.

He maintained that as per the sanction order issued by the Ministry of Rural Development, the authority concerned should hand over the full amount of over Rs 333 crore to the implementing agencies within three days.

Even though it has been five months since the Ministry sanctioned the particular amount, larger portion of the fund is still held back by the State Government thereby denying MGNREGS wages to a large number of job card holders, he continued.

By holding back the fund released in August, the State Government has jeopardised the next instalment of MGNREGS funds as it is unable to submit utilisation certificates for the funds already sanctioned, Bishorjit said.

He said that local bodies have run out of their wits trying to give replies to the repeated queries of job card holders regarding when their pending wages would be released.

A team of local bodies would soon leave for Delhi to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Rural Development regarding the State Government's failure to release MGNREGS funds, Bishorjit said.

The primary reason for not paying MGNREGS wages would be explained to the people working at the grassroots level if the pending liabilities/funds are not released by January 10 and they may launch any type of agitation before the election, he continued.

He said that the Manipur State Panchayat Parishad would also boycott BJP in the forthcoming State Assembly election if the January 10 deadline is not met.

Even though construction of houses began after the first instalment (of loans/grants) were released in the first week of October 2020 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Housing for All Scheme, the second instalment has not been released till date.

Thus a large number of beneficiaries have been left in a quandary, Bishorjit continued.

Another amount of Rs 44.25 crore awarded to local bodies by the 15th Finance Commission is also held back by the State Government even though sanction order for the same was issued on March 31 this year, he said.

The State Government would not be able to move any of these funds once the election code of conduct comes into force and the next instalment of funds would not be forthcoming if utilisation certificates for the funds released earlier are not submitted.

This situation is created by the State Government and the same situation has been projecting the local bodies as liars, he added.

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