Puducherry: Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on Thursday expressed anguish over Puducherry being one of the states which “surrender” funds without using them fully.
In her message on Whatsapp, Bedi, who is in Delhi, said states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are “doing the planning in partnership with panchayats and are benefitting enormously.”
She said these states get the benefit of “surrendered funds” from states or Union Territories which do not use them fully. “Puducherry is one of them surrendering the funds (without fully using them),” she rued. Puducherry needs to institute much awaited Panchayat system for the people to take charge of grassroot needs and transfer ownership and responsibility to the people, she said.
“Budget is no no constraint for Union Territory of Puducherry. The more we plan, budget and spend the more our people will get. The ball is in the court of administration,” she said. Presently, the Union Territory is having no elected civic bodies and all municipalities and commune panchayats whose terms of office came to an end in 2011 are now being administered through special officers.
The last civic elections were held in Puducherry in 2006 and that poll itself was the first election conducted under the Puducherry Municipalities and Commune Panchayats Act 1973 after a gap of 38 years.
PTI