Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged that the Zilla Parishads (ZP) and Mandal Parishads have been completely ignored in the past five years. Plans are being drawn up to empower the local bodies in the State, he added. Addressing the ZP general body meeting here on Wednesday, Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said funds from the government were hitherto directly reaching panchayats which resulted in drying up of the coffers of zilla and mandal parishads. “ The Finance Department is studying the practices in vogue in Karnataka and Maharashtra and will implement those suitable for Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
‘No scope for bias’
Taking pot-shots at the previous TDP government, he said Janmabhoomi committees took economic powers away from ZP, MP, and panchayats. “The identification of beneficiaries must be done by local bodies, but it was done by committee members,” he said.
In contrast, that the village secretariat system being introduced by the YSR Congress Party government would help in empowering the local bodies. “The new system is designed to only be a welfare distribution system. It would not have the power to identify beneficiaries,” said Mr. Reddy.