A year on, Tamil Nadu loses Rs 3,500 crore due to delay in local body polls

As per the 14th Central Finance Commission’s recommendations, only elected representatives of village panchayats can submit audit report of accounts to claim performance grant. Besides, they would have to show an increase in their own revenues over the preceding year as reflected in the audited accounts. Due to the absence of any elected representatives, funds from several Central government schemes could not be availed of by the state. In Tamil Nadu, all the 12 corporations besides Tambaram, Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai, Kumbakonam, Rajapalayam, Avadi, Pudukottai, Hosur, Nagercoil, Ambur, Karaikudi, Palavaram, Nagapattinam, Velankanni and Rameswaram municipalities come under the Atal mission, under which the Centre is providing a grant of 35 per cent for the local bodies to carry out water supply projects. 

Officials say the funds received from the centre are usually distributed for the 12 corporations, 124 municipalities, 528 town panchayats and 12, 528 panchayats, based on the population. An elected council is a major criterion of funds allocation from the Centre and lack of elected representatives has become a stumbling block. 

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has several sub missions, including urban infrastructure and governance (UIG), basic services to the urban poor, urban infrastructure development scheme for small and medium towns and the integrated housing and slum development programme. The corporations in Coimbatore and Madurai are facing problems in paying daily wages to workers involved in garbage cleaning. 

The state of affairs is more serious in villages and about 5,000 of the 12,524 villages have no money in their accounts without an elected body in place.