Finance panel urged to grant funds to local bodies

Soumya Kanti Ghosh, member of 16th Finance Commission, during a visit to the integrated waste management plant at Thukivakam in Tirupati on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Members of several Urban Local Bodies and Rural Local Bodies have appealed to the 16th Finance Commission to liberally grant funds for them to improve public infrastructure.

The members called on the 16th Finance Commission member Soumya Kanti Ghosh in Tirupati on Thursday during a meeting called to discuss development works and public amenities such as sanitation, roads, drinking water and drainage.

C&DMD Director P. Sampath Kumar, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Additional Commissioner Sudhakar Rao, District Collector S. Venkateswar and Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) Commissioner N. Mourya participated in the meeting chaired by Mr. Ghosh, along with the Finance Commission’s Joint Secretary S. Goutham Allada.

The members sought grant of funds to the local bodies towards improving civic infrastructure as well as for payment of wages to green ambassadors, to ensure balanced development of towns and villages. They wanted the Finance Commission to take into reckoning the present population of the towns and villages and not as per the 2011 Census.

Mr. Ghosh later visited the integrated solid waste management plant at Thukivakam and inspected the disposal, composting and debris management processes.