The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Assembly, accusing the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of wilfully depriving local self-government institutions of their Budgetary allocation.
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan said the government had made a mockery of the 2022-23 Budget and rendered its passage in Assembly a farcical exercise by taking away the development funds promised to local bodies.
In two back-to-back “illegal” orders, the government withheld the funds allocated to the local bodies in the current Budget to offset the revenue crunch caused by the State’s fiscal mismanagement, he said.
The government had misled the House on the State’s income and expenditure for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The government had pulled the wool over the eyes of the public and the Assembly, Mr. Satheesan alleged.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator Najeeb Kanthapuram moved an adjournment motion on the subject and said the government had defrauded the people. “It had eroded the Budget’s credibility”.
At a stroke, the government had upset the planning process at the LSGI level. It had frozen local development. Fund-deprived local bodies were hard-pressed to execute public works, he said.
They were unable to pay government contractors. Development has come to a standstill. The treasury scrounged for funds even to pay salaries. The government has struck a mortal blow to the concept of decentralisation of power, Mr. Kanthapuram said.
Mr. Satheesan said the controversial orders maintained that the Finance department had to revise the allocation due to some anomalies in the Budgetary allocation.
Vesting Constitutional faith in the Budgetary promises, the local bodies had completed the planning process for the fiscal when the directive came as a bolt out of the blue. The government had pulled the rug from under their feet remorselessly and with scant regard for Constitutional guarantees, he alleged.
Mr. Satheesan attributed the situation to the government’s delay in drawing up the 14th Five Year Plan guidelines on spending.
Local Self-Governments Minister M.V. Govindan countered by stating that the government had incrementally increased Budget allocation for local bodies. For one, the government enhanced the development fund for local bodies from ₹7,180 crores in 2021-22 to ₹8,048 crores in 2022-23.
The government had decided to revise the allocation because local bodies had pointed out a reduction in maintenance grants. The government would honour its Budgetary commitments in its entirety, he said.
