Panchayat Parishad to boycott PR Day
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 17 2021:
The Manipur State Panchayat Parishad, Porompat is poised to boycott the National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24 even as they locked offices of different depart-ments located inside Imphal East DC complex and pro-hibited entry of all employees today.
Denouncing the Government for not releasing various funds of MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), 15th Finance Commission Awards (2nd instalment) and honorariums of Panchayat function- aries, the Manipur State Panchayat Parishad also staged a sit-in in front of the Porompat DC complex gate yesterday.
Waiton Gram Panchayat Pradhan Pukhrambam Surbala who took part in the protest today stated that the MGNREGS job card holders in 6 districts of the valley have not been given their wages till today.
Under the Centrally sponsored scheme of MGNREGS, the Government of India had sanctioned and released the Central share liability of above Rs 560 crore for financial year 2020-21 on March 18, 2020.The said amount should have been released together with the State matching share and utilised on or before March 31, 2021 .
However, the Government has not yet released the funds, she said.
Further, the Centre had released a sum of Rs 4425 lakh for Rural Local Bodies and also 2nd instalment of Basic Grant (United) for the financial year 2020-21 as per recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission on March 2021.Even as the guideline states that the State Finance Department should transfer the grant-in-aid within 10 working days from the date of receipt without any deduction, the State Government has not yet released the grant-in-aid to the local bodies.
She asserted that any delay beyond 10 days (in releasing the grant-in-aid) will require the State Government to release the amount with interest as per effective rate of interest on market borrowing/State Development Loans for the previous year.
On the grievances of the Panchayat functionaries, Surbala said their honoraria from October 2019 to March 2021 have not been released by the Government.
Without the funds, the PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions) cannot function and moreover, the job card holders are not working without their wages.
By withholding the funds, the BJP-led Government would fail the PRIs, she added.
Surbala then asserted that the grassroots institutions would be forced to boycott the observance of the National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24 if the Government doesn't give a positive response immediately.
If the Government still remains adamant even then, a State-wide total shutdown would be called, she said.
She also informed that memoranda representing their demands and grievances have been submitted to Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the Minister and officials concerned of the Government.
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