15th Finance Commission holds meeting with PRIs, political parties in Punjab

The 15th Finance Commission headed by its Chairman N K Singh, met with over 25 representatives of various Panchayati Raj Institutions here on Tuesday in its first meeting during the panel's four-day visit to Punjab.

The panel members had detailed discussion with the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and state government officials. They also met representatives of the Urban Local Bodies and various political parties, an official release said.

During its meeting, Panchayati Raj Institutions' representatives sought financial aid for total facelift of villages and overall development of rural areas of the state.

Principal Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayats Anurag Verma, Director of Rural Development and Panchayats Jaskiran Singh and representatives of villages including panches, sarpanches along with Block Samiti and Zila Parishad members were also present at the meeting.

Underlining the need to further upgrade infrastructure in urban areas, representatives of Urban Local Bodies sought funds to provide hi-tech facilities in cities across the state.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Aman Arora, SAD MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa, BJP leader Subhash Sharma, were among the representatives of political parties who attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, as per revenue sources of PRIs provided by the state, the revenue of Panchayats from its own taxes is almost negligible,around0.11 per cent of total revenue during 2011-12. This became nilafter2015-16, a separate official statement said.

Non-tax revenue of Gram Panchayats also reduced from 26 per cent in 2011-12 to 19 per cent during 2016-17, it said.