Hisar panchayats get max grant for development works

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, January 1

Even as some sarpanches remain adamant on cancelling the e-tendering in carrying out development works, the State Finance Commission (SFC) has released the instalment of grant for the development works worth about Rs 1,110 crore for the gram panchayats in the state.

Hisar district has got the biggest share of the development grant of Rs 86.62 crore for 307 villages while Sirsa and Jind district have got Rs 82 crore and Rs 71.21 crore. However, Panchkula district has got the least grant of Rs 16 crore for the gram panchayats.

The State Finance Commission releases the development grant on the criteria of population, which also comprises of the Scheduled Caste population. The highest grant of Rs 1,68,69,407 has been allocated to Baliali village in the Bawani Khera block of Bhiwani district. Though the village ranks 28th as per the Parivar Pahchan Patra (PPP) population, it gets the biggest share as the village has a majority of the Scheduled Caste population.

However, the Singar village in the Punhana block of Nuh district, which tops the chart with 22,275 population, has got Rs 2,94,527 as grant while the second largest in population, Sakras village in the Firozpur Jhirka block in Nuh district with a population of 19,244, has been allocated a grant of Rs 1,05,10,618. Chautala village in Sirsa district which is the native village of several prominent politicians, including Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Power Minister Ranjit Singh, INLD MLA from Ellenabad Abhay Singh Chautala, JJP MLA from Badhra in Bhiwani district Naina Chautala and Dabwali MLA Amit Sihag has got the second highest grant of Rs 1,46,10,871.

The State Finance Commission has released a total grant of about Rs 1,497 crore for the gram panchayats, block samitis and the zila parishads in the state. The commission distributes the grants on a tentative ratio of 75 per cent to the gram panchayats, 15 per cent to the block samitis and 10 per cent to the zila parishads out of the total grant. Development and Panchayat minister Devender Singh Babli said this was the second instalment of the grant released by the State Finance Commission for the development of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The development grant is allocated on the basis of a criteria, which has population as a leading factor. “Though some sarpanches tried to protest the development move of the government, we have urged them to carry out development works for the utilisation of grants”, he said.

Ranbir Singh, sarpanch of Samian village in Fatehabad district, who is also the pradhan of the Haryana Sarpanches Association, which launched an agitation for withdrawing the decision of e-tendering, said the provision (e-tendering) had scuttled the process of development in the villages and is against the spirit of local self-governance of the PRI.