Zilla, taluk and gram panchayat members on Thursday highlighted to the fourth State Finance Commission (SFC) panel the many ignored problems, particularly the lack of toilets for women, faced by people of district.
The panel, headed by Commissioner C.G. Chinnaswamy, was conducting a meeting of GP,TP and ZP members in Yadgir. When Mr. Chinnaswamy brought up the fact that the district stands 29th in the State in the Human Development Index, the panchayat members said most of the villages have no community and individual toilets, potable drinking facility, proper drainage system, and adequate schools, anganwadis and hospitals owing to the non-allocation of funds to the zilla panchayat.
Yadgir also stands 27th in Child Development, 18th in the Gender Equality Index, 23rd in the Food and Safety Index, and 30th place in the District Composite Development Index.
Ashokreddy Gonal, Amardeep, Shivalingappa Putagi, Shashikala Kyatna, Marlingappa Karnal and Kishan Rathod, all ZP members, said the panchayat has been entrusted with taking up development works such as construction of hostels, school buildings, community and individual toilets, drinking water facilities and drainage, but the fund allocated to each ZP member is fixed at ₹16 lakh a year, which is not enough to take up such projects.
They urged the panel to recommend that the government fix a fund of ₹2 crore for each ZP member and a general fund of ₹5 crore, giving the ZP president and CEO liberty to use the money during emergencies.
Basareddy Anapur, president of the Yadgir ZP, who chaired the meeting, said ₹3.16 crore was allocated for Yadgir district for 2015-16. But of this, only ₹2.3 crore has been released even now. Under such circumstances, how can development works be undertaken, he asked.
