Cong. civic chief seeks more funds for municipalities

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 4. Mayors and municipal chairpersons belonging to the Congress(I) formed themselves into a forum to exert pressure on the State Government to release more funds to the civic bodies.

The representatives of the Forum led by its convenor, Mr.Somarapu Satyanarayana, Ramagundam Municipal Council chairperson, met the State Government officials and also the second State Finance Commission and sought a 50 per cent share for the municipal bodies from the revenues accruing to the Government from the civic areas.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr.Satyanarayana alleged that both the Central and State Governments had neglected the towns and that the civic administrations were starved of funds. The State Governemnt was netting huge amounts from municipal areas through sales tax, seignorage charges, royalty, motor vehicle tax, agriculture welfare cess, State excise duty, toll tax, electricity duty, etc.

Mr.Satyanarayana said the Ramagumdam municipality, for instance, was contributing a revenue of Rs 115 crores annually but it received a paltry grant of Rs 8.28 lakhs from the State Government based on the formula of Rs 4 per person (on the basis of the population as per 1991 census).

Chairpersons of nine municipalities, Mr.K.Jagannatha Rao Naidu (Anakapalle), Mohd. Ahmadullah (Cuddapah), Mr.N.Gurumurthy (Gajuvaka), Mr.K.Noor Mohammed (Anantapur), Mr.S.Prakash (Mahabubnagar), Mrs Nagavalli (Khammam), Mrs M.Laxmi Anjaiah (Kamareddy), Mrs K.Savithri (Medak) and Mrs K.Kamala (Mangalagiri), who were present at the press conference, also accused the Government of diluting their powers and status.

The Forum convenor said they supported the Chief Minister's demand for a 50 per cent share for the State in the revenues collected by the Centre from the State. On the same analogy, the civic bodies deserved 50 per cent devolution of funds. The State Finance Commission was urged to ensure a fair share for the civic bodies in its recommendations.

He alleged that the civic bodies under the control of the Congress(I) were being discriminated against even in the meagre release of funds by the Government. The forum members would meet the Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, and urge him to stop the political discrimination since the civic administrations were implementing all the programmes designed by the Government.

In many towns, water supply schemes were hanging fire for years, thus burdening the municipalities. These schemes should be completed on priority. Another demand of the forum was that the electricity charges for the water supply systems be collected at the average buying price of power by APTRANSCO.

The Forum further urged the Government to implement the Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) schemes in all the towns as the Government of India is sponsoring it with 60 per cent grant while the State Government's contribution was only 40 per cent. These works must be handed over to the municipalities as the Public Health Department was already overloaded.

Mr.Satyanarayana said though the chairpersons were called chief executive officers of the municipalities, the administrative control was not in their hands. The Forum urged the Chief Minister to invite them to the DDRC (District Development and Review Committee) meetings and protect their protocol status as laid down in the Blue Book.

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