SHILLONG: The Forum of Councils under the Sixth Schedule (FOCUSS) has decided to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the matter of budget cut for the Councils from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1 crore.
The KHADC chief executive member, P.N Syiem, said the revised budget of Rs 1 crore for 2016-17 is a cause for concern.
When asked why there was a deep slash in the allocation, Syiem said the main reason is the non-submission of the utilisation certificate but NITI Aayog issued its guidelines late. At the same time, the State Government cannot release the fund at the earliest because it has no time frame.
Justifying his stand that it is not the fault of the Councils, Syiem said, “It is not delayed because of us. We should write to the State Government that this time it is not because of us but due to the delay in issuing the guidelines and releasing funds to the Council.”
“Out of the Rs 1,000 crore, we will try our level best to see that the utilisation certificate is submitted at the earliest so that if we could submit UC for at least 70 per cent of the Rs 1,000 crore, there is no problem for us to say that in spite of a very short period of time, we could still manage,” he added.
Referring to the reduction in the budget allocation to Rs 500 crore for 2017-18, Syiem said, “We have decided that we will submit a memorandum on this issue and request the Centre to reconsider the reduced budget for 2016-17, (and) at the same time to enhance the budget provision for 2017-18 with an aim to achieve the objectives of the people within the Sixth Schedule.”
He informed that Rs 1,000 crore for 2015-16 is still being implemented that prompted the Centre to revise the allocation to Rs 1 crore for 2016-17.
It was observed during the meeting that the Finance Ministry should issue guidelines at the time when they release the fund to the State Government and also set a time frame so that the District Council can implement the scheme at the earliest.
“All Chief Ministers, Members of Parliament of the Sixth Schedule concerned should also write to the Minister of Finance to support our request for enhancing the allocation to all ADCs,” he said.
Delegation to meet PM, FM
Two separate delegations will meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to submit a memorandum to air the grievances of the autonomous district councils. The memorandum will be drafted by February so that by first of March, the chairman and secretary of FOCUSS can visit Delhi.
“The first delegation will be headed by the chairman of FOCUSS to meet the Finance Minister to hand over the memorandum. The second delegation will comprise all CEMs of the Councils under the Sixth Schedule to get our appointment with the PM,” Syiem said.
Demand for separate ministry
The KHADC CEM said there was a need to have a separate ministry to look after the affairs of the councils under the Sixth Schedule and this demand would be mentioned in the memorandum to the Prime Minister.
“It is high time that the Central Government create a ministry to look after the affairs of the District Council,” said Syiem.
He called upon the need to create a separate budget head as well so that objectives can be achieved for the interest of the people under the Sixth Schedule.
