Panchayati Raj : Unnecessary Confusion

Out of plan funds devolved to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) in Kerala some amounts have been found to have been deposited with certain government institutions for works which the PRIs want them to take up in their areas. These institutions are government bodies such as the electricity board or the water authority. The PRIs in Kerala were doing this under direction from the state government. Now the making of these deposits has been objected to as a financial irregularity by the audit department.

The amount transferred by the PRIs as deposits with the institutions adds up to Rs 49 crore over a period of four years which, as a proportion of the plan funds released to the PRIs during this period, would work out to less than 5 per cent. However, since there has been a change of state government, even this small transfer of funds in the form of deposits with government institutions has considered irregular and is being used by the new UDF government to support its case against the policy of making plan allocations to the PRIs.