Kerala Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the UDF-led State government of adopting “a negative and obstructionist approach” towards local self-government institutions (LSGIs) and “deliberately placing” shackles on them by withholding the Plan fund allocation due to them.

Inaugurating the LDF’s protest march from the Martyrs’ Column to the Secretariat on Thursday against the government slashing the Plan fund allocation for local body institutions, Mr. Vijayan warned that the march was just the beginning and that the LDF would organise mass protests if the government continued to squeeze the local bodies.

The previous LDF government’s final Budget allocated ₹11,189 crore for local bodies, out of which the UDF government’s revised Budget slashed ₹1,533.55 crore, bringing the total allocation down to ₹8,655.45 crore, he said.

He said the government was ‘turning a blind eye” to the plight of vulnerable sections in society, such as the elderly, the chronically ill, palliative care patients, differently abled children, and BUDS schools, all of whose care and welfare measures have been disrupted because the local body institutions do not have the funds to run these schemes.

Slam Satheesan

Mr. Vijayan accused Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan of making baseless statements that it was the LDF which had withheld the last instalment of Plan funds due to the LSGIs. He said the previous LDF government had allocated ₹2,300 crore for LSGIs and had even issued a government order, but it was the Election Commission which prevented the release of these funds, citing the Model Code of Conduct.

Mr. Vijayan said the government was “well aware” that July 31 was the last date for LSGIs to register their projects for the year in the special software, but had now restricted access to the software as well to ensure that the projects of local bodies did not get registered.

Mr. Vijayan alleged that the government was fully aware that local bodies could not function or undertake development works without the timely release of funds. He also claimed that the details of the revised Budget of the UDF had still not been uploaded to the Information Kerala Mission’s software system, calling it “a deliberate attempt to delay” fund allocation.

He further claimed that the previous LDF government had succeeded in increasing the State’s tax revenue through effective interventions with the 16th Finance Commission and that, through “the largest borrowing programme in the history of the State”, the government currently had sufficient funds at its disposal. There was no justification for the UDF government not releasing these funds to the LSGIs even after four months into the new financial year.

Mr. Vijayan said the Congress-led government was “derailing the dream” of gram swaraj first put forth by Mahatma Gandhi and later realised as Panchayati Raj. The consequences of the fund squeeze on LSGIs would ultimately weaken the State’s development efforts, he warned.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan, CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam, former Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, CPI leader G.R. Anil, among others, spoke.