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| New Delhi refuses to release Rs 281 Cr | | Delayed Panchayat elections | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 23: New Delhi has again refused to release Rs.281 crore grant recommended by twelfth finance commission for augmentation of consolidated funds and supplementing the resources of the Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said that Union ministry has refused to release Rs. 254 crore linking it with non-holding of elections to Panchayats. They added that centre has promised to release the grants as and when the Panchayats would become functional in Jammu and Kashmir. "State has promised to hold Panchayat elections by the end of this year and once they do so, grants for augmenting Panchayats would be released immediately," said an official.
Guidelines framed by Union Finance ministry are unambiguous on this issue which state that Panchayats as defined in the Constitution can exist only when they are constituted as per the mandatory provisions of Articles 243-B and 243-C. They further state that grants will not be provided to a state where elections for constituting these Panchayats have not been held for the period for which there were no elected Panchayats.
Officials informed that since states have to mandatorily transfer the grants released by the Centre to the Pancahayati Raj Institutions within 15 days of the same being credited to the state's account, the same is not possible in Jammu and Kashmir since Panchayats are non-existent. "J&K should not delay Panchayat elections any more. The sooner they are held, better it would be for people living in rural areas," the officials said.
Central government has so far twice turned down our request for rural development funds by the state government, saying the state had not held Panchayat (village council) elections and hence did not qualify for the funds, said an official of rural development department. He added that department has completed all requisites for holding Panchayat elections have been completed and now, only dates are to be decided.
"Elections have already got delayed too much. Earlier the home department shot down the proposal saying that situation was not conducive and now again; we have come to know that they have begun talking of their inability to provide foolproof security for holding elections in 29, 797 Panch constituencies (16011 in Kashmir province and 13786 in Jammu province) of 4139 Panchayats across the state," added official of Rural Development Department.
He further disclosed that they Rural Development Department is ready and awaiting a nod from the Chief Minister's office. "CM's office would seek an assessment of security situation from home department and intelligence agencies. Thereafter, they would convey us the dates for holding Panchayat elections," added the official.
Jammu and Kashmir has 4139 Panchayats and more than 29, 797 Panch constituencies in 143 blocks of 22 districts. Highest numbers of Panchayats are in Baramulla district of Kashmir valley which has 365 Panchayats in 12 Blocks while the lowest are in Srinagar district which has only just one block with 10 Panchayats.
Jammu has 297 Panchayat in 8 blocks of the district. Looking in retrospect, Panchayat polls were held in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of 20 years in the year 2001 when present Chief Minister's father, Farooq Abdullah was on the chair.
But the Panchayats formed through the 2001 polls ended their five-year terms in 2006, and no poll has been held since then, on the grounds that the situation was not conducive to hold Panchayat elections. They were to be held in 2007 but were put off over the similar reasons. Rural development schemes have been hit hard by lack of funds.
The new Jammu and Kashmir assembly was constituted on January 5. State government and parties in the ruling coalition government have repeatedly said the security situation in the state has improved remarkably and Panchayat elections would be held soon. But, nothing has been heard so far on this account. |
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