PONDA: Usgao-Ganjem Panchayat has threatened to drag the government to court if it fails to disburse the octroi grant of Rs 1.36 crore due to the local body.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Ganjem Sarpanch Tulshidas Prabu said the financial position of the panchayat has weakened due to the failure of the government in disbursing octroi grant. Consequently, development works in the village have come to a halt.
Further, the panchayat spends Rs one lakh per month on panchayat staff towards their salary and other expenditures, he said adding, under this condition, the panchayat has no option than dragging the government to the court, if it fails to disburse the octroi grants pending for two years.
At the same briefing, Prabu threatened to file a police complaint against a person, who, he claimed, fraudulently collected money from people in the name of the panchayat with the promise to register their houses in 2012 by providing house numbers.
He said that he has received complaints from villagers that the unnamed person collected money ranging from Rs 10,000-20,000 for registering their houses.
Meanwhile, Kavlem Sarpanch Rajesh Kavlekar also complained that his panchayat has not received the octroi grant of Rs 16 lakh and they too are facing financial crises.
