Centre releases Rs.1,034 cr for Telangana Panchayats: Kishan Reddy

Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday said the Central government has released Rs.1,034.42 crore to Telangana under the 15th Finance Commission grants for the development of rural local bodies, and urged the state government to transfer the funds to Gram Panchayats without delay.

He explained that the Union Finance Ministry releases the funds in accordance with recommendations from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aimed at strengthening grassroots governance.

According to Kishan Reddy, the funds are meant for 12,702 Gram Panchayats in Telangana and can be used for key services such as sanitation, drinking water supply, waste management, rainwater harvesting, and maintaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.

Highlighting allocations over the past decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Minister said more than Rs.11,000 crore had been sanctioned for Telangana’s rural local bodies. While Rs.5,060 crore was released between 2015–16 and 2019–20, allocations increased by 80% to Rs.9,050 crore during 2020–21 to 2025–26, with Rs.6,051 crore released before January 2026.

For the current financial year, he said the Centre has already released three tranches - Rs.259.36 crore on February 5, Rs.387.1 crore as the second tranche, and Rs.387.96 crore recently as the third tranche.

Reddy said the remaining Rs.2,000 crore will be released once the state submits utilisation certificates for earlier funds. He stressed that, as per guidelines, the state governments must transfer the funds to Gram Panchayats within 10 working days of receiving them, failing which interest would have to be paid.

The Union Minister alleged that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government diverted the Central funds meant for villages, causing financial distress to sarpanches. He urged the current Congress government to ensure transparency and immediately release the funds to strengthen rural infrastructure. "I request the state government to take appropriate steps in line with the efforts being made by the Modi government for the development of villages at the grassroots level to strengthen the infrastructure in the villages and realize the dream of Ram Rajya. I request the state government to immediately transfer the remaining funds of the total funds provided by the central government for the development of gram panchayats and instill confidence in the newly elected sarpanches and ward members of the gram panchayats", he added.