Centre to allocate funds for non Panchayati states including M’laya

SHILLONG: Union Panchayati Raj Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh on Tuesday assured that the Centre would ensure that funds are made available under the ‘Gram Uday se Bharat Uday’ Abhiyan to three states including Meghalaya which do not have Panchayati system.
Interacting with media persons through video conferencing from New Delhi on Tuesday, he admitted that the 14th Finance Commission did not allocate any funds to the three states that have autonomous district councils.
“The councils should have funds so that they can also work and this is possible only when the state government come out with some kind of formulae,” he said, adding that there is a provision for compensation to the three states. “We, however, have to dwell on the mechanism and find out what kind of funds should be delivered,” he added.
Admitting that an amount of Rs 38,500 crore has been allocated for implementation of MGNREGS in the country, the Union minister said there cannot be any allocation to the states directly as it is purely a demand driven scheme.
He, however, assured that the Centre would provide all kinds of assistance to Meghalaya.