GO 2 violates the spirit of the 73rd amendment to the PR Act: Thulasi Reddy
APCC Labor President N. Thulasi Reddy on Saturday accused Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of attempting to weaken the Panchayat Raj institutions.
In a statement, he said that following the entry into force of the Panchayat Raj Act (73rd Amendment) on April 24, 1993, states were allowed to take steps to organize village panchayats and give them the authority to function as units of self-government.
“But GO 2, issued by the YSRCP government on March 25th this year, is against the spirit of the law and the 73rd Amendment,” argued Thulasi Reddy.
“Grant Sarpanches Powers”
He said, according to the GO, the staff and volunteers of the village secretariats are not accountable to the Sarpanches. He said the Sarpanches had not yet been granted control authority.
Mr Thulasi Reddy called for the GO to be withdrawn and powers to be given to the Sarpanches and the elected representatives at village level.
Zero interest scheme
He criticized the Chief Minister for “trying to create a hype about the Sunna Vaddi loans (interest-free loans) to women’s self-help groups”.
He claimed Congress introduced it during the 2004 elections and promised to introduce the “Pavala Vaddi” program to empower women.
It won the elections and the congressional governments led by former Prime Ministers YS Rajasekhara Reddy and K. Rosaiah implemented the program from 2004-05 to 2010-11.
To further improve the system, former Prime Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy changed it from “pavala vaddi” to “sunna vaddi”, which was implemented while the party was in power. However, in 2016-17, the TDP government scrapped the program, he claimed.
“While the Congressional government granted each support group £ 5, the YSRCP government reduced the amount to £ 3,” he said.
The congressional leader said it was unwise to spend a lot of money promoting such programs, especially when the state is suffering from a severe economic crisis, compounded by the effects of the pandemic. He said women should take note of the YSRCP government’s game plan.