“Not With Our Money”: Kerala Panchayat Defies Government Order For Navakerala Sadas, Calls It “Robbery, Profligacy”

As the Navakerala Sadas public outreach programme of Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reached neighbouring district Kozhikode, a Panchayat local body administration from Malappuram district announced that it will not allocate funds for the event. After calling the programme a ‘robbery, profligacy and public relation exercise’ by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, defying an order by the Local Self Government Department, Afsal KT, President of Aliparamba Grama Panchayat said the order is against the Panchayat Raj Act.

In a long social media post, Afsal KT, an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) member leading a United Democratic Front (UDF)-controlled Panchayat, detailed the reasons why the Panchayat Board of Alparamba decided to not to give money for the local organisation committee of the programme, which is being held from November 18 to December 24. In the programme, the chief minister along with all the members of his council of ministers will visit all districts in the state.

The order issued by the Kerala Government, according to him, giving the responsibility of allocating funds for the Navakerala Sadas to the Governing Body/Secretary, is against the Panchayat Raj Act, as it has granted power to the Secretary, who is only responsible for implementing the decisions of the governing body.

The government order had asked panchayats, municipalities, jilla panchayats and corporations in tune of ₹50,000, ₹1,00,000, ₹2,00,000 and ₹3,00,000 respectively for organising the programme.

“No one can take away the tax money of Aliparamb people for this profligacy, this robbery, and this PR work,” he said.

In a long note, he counted the issues the local bodies in Kerala facing and asserted that those are enough reasons for his Panchayat to take such a call.

“We have no intention of giving money to Nava Kerala Dhurth (profligacy); however, no matter how you interpret it based on pure political interest, we have a hundred reasons to say otherwise. The first reason is that it is our responsibility as democratic people”s representatives to stand up and say no. Kerala has witnessed many (political) journeys from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in the past, all done at their own expense. Another reason is that this journey is being funded with money from the public treasury for the public relation work of a government that has collapsed due to extravagance,” Afsal KT said in his post.

“People who come to our Panchayat Office every day after missing their pension for several months are reason enough for us to say no. The smoke that does not come from the midday meal kitchen of the school or the tension in the mind of the teacher in charge is sufficient reason for us to say no. Another reason for us is your withholding of the funds meant for each ward for pre-monsoon cleaning for the last two years. The magic of transferring the last installment of plan funds to panchayats at 7 pm on March 31 and taking it back at 12 am is another reason for us. Electricity bills, house tax, water tax, house permit fees, price rise, and the empty Supplico are enough reasons for us,” he added.

He said the secretaries and employees of panchayats who scramble to complete the work in the panchayat on time and the anganwadi teachers are destined to distribute the “king”s notices even though the people are starving” are enough reasons for his Panchayat to take this call.

On Wednesday, Opposition leader VD Satheesan has also questioned the intention behind the order issued Additional Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan and said it had transgressed the Kerala Municipal Act, 1994 by ordering local self-government institutions to use their “own funds” to bankroll the programme, and added that the UDF would move the court against the order.

The Opposition also alleged that the LDF government threatened to terminate the services of an officer on probation in a local body when he pointed out that Ms. Muraleedharan’s order violated the municipal Act.

While responding to Mr Satheesan, the chief minister said the opposition leader is infringing on the fiscal and administrative independence of Congress-ruled Local Self Government Institutions by deterring them from collaborating with the government’s programme, and expressed confidence that opposition-ruled local bodies would attend the campaign in the public interest, breaking the ranks with UDF.