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| Harsh questions delay in holding ULBs elections | | 'Postponement deprives J&K of hundreds of crores under 14th FC' | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 16: Questioning the successive postponements of the Urban Local Bodies elections in J&K during the last few years, JKNPP president Harsh Dev Singh regretted that the state has been deprived of thousands of crores of rupees for development of Municipal areas which has been withheld by the Central government due to the failure of the state government to constitute the elected municipal bodies.
He said that the Chief Minister's recent statement that the elections to Rural Local Bodies would be held from April onwards to be followed by urban local bodies elections amply conveyed that the government didn't intend to hold Municipal elections during the current financial year.
He said that non-holding of ULB elections during 2015-16 would further deprive the state of hundreds of crores for development of such Municipal bodies which comprised 74 Municipal Committees, 6 Municipal councils and 2 Municipal Corporations.
Hailing the recent decision of the 14th Finance Commission to enhance the funding for local bodies in the state, Singh pointed out that the said commission had proposed Rs 4161 crore for the state which included 3117.36 crore for Rural Local Bodies and Rs 1044.51 crore for Urban Local Bodies with a precondition that funds would be released only if elected local bodies were constituted as a measure of democratic decentralization. He said that the 14th Finance Commission had provided a grant of Rs. 125.30 crore in the first instance for 2015-16 which however could be availed only if the elected Municipal bodies were in place during the current year. He deplored that the lackadaisical approach of the government and the dirty politics played by coalition partners by postponing elections for political reasons was depriving the general masses and prospective beneficiaries of the benefits envisaged for them under various GOI schemes.
Reminding the BJP-PDP coalition of the assurances doled out by it during the Budget Session for early holding of ULB elections, Singh regretted the 'in-explicable' delay and repeated postponements of the same despite the state elections authorities having indicated their preparedness on scores of occasions.
He regretted that non constitution of Urban Local Bodies had not only caused financial loss to the state but had also enabled the government to rule and administer the Urban areas by proxy in the absence of grass root democratic institutions in the municipal areas.
Harsh Dev Singh said that the state govt. has not only been biased and prejudicied in ensuring time bound elections to the said bodies but has committed violations of legal provisions of Municipal Act and Municipal Corporation Acts in the process. |
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