Centre has increased grants to local bodies, says Joshi

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi criticizes State government for failing to utilize increased grants to urban bodies properly.

The Union government has increased grants to urban and local bodies as per the Finance Commission recommendations. But the State government has failed to utilise them properly, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said in Hubballi on Sunday.

“My information is that over ₹300 crore of Central government funds have remained unutilised in Karnataka. I am not playing politics here. My concern is that the grants to local bodies released from the Centre should be properly utilised,” Mr. Joshi said.

He was speaking at an event to distribute appointment letters to pourakarmikas.

“We should have put in place systems and processes to see that irrespective of which party is in power in the Centre and the States, funds flow should be regular and automatic. Just as the Centre releases funds in time, the State government should also do it from time to time,” he said.

Member of Legislative Assembly Prasad Abbayya said that the State government has fulfilled the long-pending demand of direct recruitment of civil workers and direct payment of salaries to them.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has resolved the issue. The new system was launched in Mysuru where direct appointments have been made, the MLA said.

MLA Mahesh Tenginakai said that of the 870 civic workers to be directly recruited, 127 have been recruited now. He demanded that the State government should recruit the rest immediately and release all pending grants to urban local bodies.