REPORT OF - wbfin.nic.inwbfin.nic.in/writereaddata/Final_Report_Part_III.pdf · REPORT OF THE FOURTH STATE FINANCE COMMISSION ... GP Office 5 23.12.13 Representatives of ISI, CSSS

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

REPORT

OF

THE FOURTH STATE FINANCE COMMISSION

WEST BENGAL

PART – III

Abhirup Sarkar

Professor

Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Chairman

Dilip Ghosh, IAS (Retd.) Ruma Mukherjie Member Member

Swapan Kumar Paul, WBCS (Exe) (Retd.) Member-Secretary

FEBRUARY, 2016

BIKASH BHAVAN, SALT LAKE, KOLKATA

Table of Contents

List of Appendices Page No

Appendix-I

List of persons and Institutions Consulted by the Commission................. 1

Appendix-II

Relevant Provisions of the Constitution of India regarding Local Bodies....... 5

Appendix-III

Setting up of the State Finance Commission-Relevant Provisions............... 16

Appendix-IV

Constitution and Terms of Reference of the Fourth

State Finance Commission...................................................................... 21

Appendix-V

Questionnaires for RLBs and ULBs...................................................... 26

Appendix-VI

W.B. D.P.C. Act, 1994............................................................................. 55

Appendix-VII

ATRs of Earlier SFCs............................................................................. 61

Appendix-VIII

G.O. regarding Entertainment Tax and other relevant orders.......... 116

Appendix-IX

Summary of Studies Commissioned by the Fourth SFC..................... 156

Appendix-X

Summary of Discussions in Meetings with different stakeholders..... 176

Appendix-XI

Officers and Staff of the Commission...................................................... 230

Appendix-XII

Representation from Panchayats & R.D. Department on requirement

of ISGP (2nd

phase)................................................................................... 231

Appendix-I.pdf

Appendix-II.pdf

Appendix-III.pdf

Appendix-IV.pdf

Appendix-V.pdf

Appendix-VI.pdf

Appendix-VII.pdf

Appendix-VIII.pdf

Appendix-IX.pdf

Appendix-X.pdf

Appendix-XI.pdf

Appendix-XII.pdf

Appendix-XII.pdf

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Appendix-I

List of Persons and Institutions consulted by the Commission

Sl.No Date Persons met Purpose Venue 1 12.7.13 Scholars and Researchers from the

Country and abroad Listening to

their views on Local Bodies

ISI, Kolkata

2 13.11.13 Representatives of Panchayats & R.D and Municipal Affairs Department

Reviewing of activities

Commission’s Office

3 19.11.13 Representatives of Finance Department Reviewing of actual fund

release to RLB and ULB


4 26.11.13 Prodhan, Members and officials of Dhulasimla GP of Uluberia-I Block

Interactive discussion

GP Office

5 23.12.13 Representatives of ISI, CSSS and IDSK Reviewing of Commissioning

of Study


6 15.1.14 Representatives of Panchayats & R.D. and Municipal Affairs Department

Reviewing of actual fund

release to RLB and ULB


7 21.1,22.1 & 26.2.14

Representatives of Panchayats & R.D. Department

Reviewing of fund flow


8 27.2.14 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Madhyamgram Municipality


Madhyamgram Municipality

Office 9 2,9,16 and

23.6.14 Video Conference with RLB representatives of the State


Roop Kala Kendra, Salt Lake

10 27.6.14 Principal Accountant General, WB, Principal Director, RTI, Examiner of Local Accounts and other officers of

CAG


about Local Govt. Audit

RTI, CGO Complex, Kolkata

11 14.07.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Howrah ZP


Howrah ZP Office

12 25.07.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of South 24

Parganas ZP


South 24 Parganas ZP Office

13 31.7.2014 Scholars and Researchers from the Country and abroad

Workshop on Study

Commissioned by the 4th SFC

ISI, Kolkata

14 04.08.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya and members of Hooghly ZP


Hooghly ZP Office

15 08.08.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya and members of 24 Parganas (North) ZP


24 Parganas (North) Office

2

Sl.No Date Persons met Purpose Venue 16 11,18 &

25.08.2014 Representatives of Non-KMA

Municipalities Interactive discussion

SUDA Office at Salt Lake

17 19.08.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, Officials and members of Nadia ZP


Nadia ZP Office

18 26.08.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Purba

Medinipur ZP


Purba Medinipur ZP Office

19 28.08.2014 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya Officials and members of Burdwan ZP


Burdwan ZP Office

20 28.08.2014 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Memari Municipality


Memari Municipality

Office 21 04.09.2014 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of

Kalyani Municipality Interactive discussion

Kalyani Municipality

22 9.9.14 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Bankura ZP


Circuit House

23 9.9.14 Sabhapati, Karmadhyakshya, members and officials of Bankura-I PS


Bankura-I PS Office

24 10.9.14 Sabhapati, Karmadhyakshya, members and officials of Hura PS


Hura PS Office

25 10.9.14 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and Members of Hutmura GP


Hutmura GP Office

26 10.9.14 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Purulia ZP


Purulia ZP Office

27 11.9.14 Mayor, Councillors and Officials of Durgapur Municipal Corporation


Durgapur Municipal

Corporation Office

28 11.9.14 Chairman, CEO and Officials of Asansol Durgapur Development

Authority


Asansol Durgapur Development

Authority Office 29 18 &

19.9.14 Representatives of KMA Municipalities Interactive

discussion SUDA office at

Saltlake 30 13.10.14 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and

Members of Bankibandh GP Interactive discussion

Bankibandh GP Office

31 13.10.14 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Paschim

Medinipur ZP


Paschim Medinipur ZP

Office 32 13.10.14 Sabhapati, Karmadhyakshya, members

and officials of Debra PS Interactive discussion

Debra PS Office

33 27.10.14 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Murshidabad ZP


Murshidabad ZP Office

34 27.10.14 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Berhampore Municipality


Berhampore Municipality

Office 35 28.10.14 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and

Members of Mahula-I GP Interactive discussion

Mahula-I GP Office

3

Sl.No Date Persons met Purpose Venue 36 28.10.14 Sabhapati, Karmadhyakshya, members

and officials of Beldanga-I PS Interactive discussion

Beldanga-I PS Office

37 26.11.14 Representatives of ISGP Gram Panchayats


Meeting Hall of P&RD Deptt. at Jessop Building,

Kolkata 38 27.11.14 Representatives of selected non ISGP

Gram Panchayats Interactive discussion

Meeting Hall of P&RD Deptt. at Jessop Building,

Kolkata 39 16.12.14 Representatives of Municipal Affairs

Department Reviewing of

activities SUDA Office

40 23.12.14 Representatives of the West Bengal Valuation Board


Office of WBVB at Salt lake

41 15.1.15 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and Members of Boaldar GP, Dakshin

Dinajpur


Boaldar GP Office

42 15.1.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Dakshin

Dinajpur ZP


Dakshin Dinajpur ZP Office

43 15.1.15 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Balurghat Municipality


Balurghat Municipality

Office 44 16.1.15 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of

Raiganj Municipality Interactive discussion

Raiganj Municipality

Office 45 16.1.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials

and members of Uttar Dinajpur ZP Interactive discussion

Uttar Dinajpur ZP Office

46 16.1.15 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and Members of Itahar GP, Uttar Dinajpur


Itahar GP Office

47 17.1.15 Prodhan, Sanchalak, Officials and Members of Mahadipur GP, Malda


Mahadipur GP Office

48 17.1.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Malda ZP


Malda ZP Office

49 17.1.15 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Old Malda Municipality


Old Malda Municipality

Office 50 22.1.15 CEO and Officers of KMDA Interactive

discussion Unnayan Bhavan, Salt Lake, Kolkata

51 5.2.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Coochbehar ZP


Coochbehar ZP Office

52 6.2.15 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and Members of Madhupur GP, Coochbehar


Madhupur GP Office

53 6.2.15 Sabhapati, Karmadhyakshya, members and officials of Maynaguri PS


Maynaguri PS Office

54 6.2.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya, officials and members of Jalpaiguri &

Interactive discussion in

Jalpaiguri ZP Office

4

Sl.No Date Persons met Purpose Venue Alipurduar ZP joint meeting

55 7.2.15 Prodhan, Members and officials of Fulbari-II GP under Rajganj Block


Fulbari-II GP Office

56 7.2.15 Officials of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad


Mahakuma Parishad Office

57 7.2.15 Officials of Siliguri Municipal Corporation


MC Office

58 25.2.15 Officials of PHE Department Reviewing of the Activities

PHE Department at New Secretariat

Building 59 27.3.15 Sabhadhipati, Karmadhyakshya,

officials and members of Birbhum ZP Interactive discussion

Birbhum ZP Office

60 27.3.15 Sabhapati,Karmadhyakshya,members and officials of Suri-I PS


Suri-I PS Office

61 28.3.15 Prodhan, Sanchalak, officials and Members of Ruppur GP under Bolpur-

Sriniketan Block


Bolpur-Sriniketan Block GP Office

62 28.3.15 Chairman, Councillors and Officials of Bolpur Municipality


Bolpur Municipality

Office 63 28.3.15 Officials of Sriniketan-Santiniketan

Development Authority Reviewing of the Activities

SSDA office at Bolpur

5

Appendix II

RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA REGARDING RLBs AND ULBs

Part IX – The Panchayats 243A. A Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a State may by law, provide. 243B. (1) There shall be constituted in every State, Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels in accordance with the provisions of this Part. (2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), Panchayats at the intermediate level may not be constituted in a State having a population not exceeding twenty lakhs. 243C. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, the Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to the composition of Panchayats: Provided that the ratio between the population of the territorial area of a Panchayat at any level and the number of seats in such Panchayat to be filled by election shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the State. (2) All the seats in a Panchayat shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the Panchayat area and; for this purpose, each Panchayat area shall be divided into territorial constituencies in such manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the Panchayat area. (3) The Legislature of a State may, by law, provide for the representation- (a) of the Chairpersons of the Panchayats at the village level, in the Panchayats at the intermediate level or, in the case of a State not having Panchayats at the intermediate level, in the Panchayats at the district level; (b) of the Chairpersons of the Panchayats at the intermediate level, in the Panchayats at the district level; (c) of the Members of the House of the People and the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the State representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly a Panchayat area at a level other than the village level, in such Panchayat; (d) of the Members of the Council of States and the Members of the Legislative Council of the State, where they are registered as electors within- (i) a Panchayat area at the intermediate level, in Panchayat at the intermediate level;

(ii) a Panchayat area at the district level, in Panchayat at the district level.

(4) The Chairperson of a Panchayat and other members of a Panchayat whether or not chosen

by direct election from territorial constituencies in the Panchayat area shall have the right to

vote in the meetings of the Panchayats.

6

(5) The Chairperson of-

(a) a Panchayat at the village level shall be elected in such manner as the

Legislature of a State may, by law, provide; and

(b) a Panchayat at the intermediate level or district level shall be elected by, and from

amongst, the elected members thereof.

243G. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law,

endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to

function as institutions of Self-Government and such law may contain provisions for the

devolution of powers and responsibilities upon Panchayats at the appropriate level, subject to

such conditions as may be specified therein, with respect to –

(a) the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice;

(b) the implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice as may be

entrusted to them including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule.

243H. The Legislature of a State may, by law,-

(a) authorize a Panchayat to levy, collect and appropriate such taxes, duties, tolls and fees in

accordance with such procedure and subject to such limits;

(b) assign to a Panchayat such taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied and collected by the State

Government for such purposes and subject to such conditions and limits;

(c) provide for making such grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of

the State; and

(d) provide for constitution of such Funds for crediting all moneys received, respectively, by

or on behalf of the Panchayats and also for the withdrawal of such moneys there from, as may

be specified in the law.

243I. (1) The Governor of a State shall, as soon as may be within one year from the

commencement of the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, and thereafter at

the expiration of every fifth year, constitute a Finance Commission to review the financial

position of the Panchayats and to make recommendations to the Governor as to

(a) the principles which should govern-

(i) the distribution between the State and the Panchayats of the net proceeds of the taxes,

duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may be divided between them under this

Part and the allocation between the panchayats at all levels of their respective shares of such

proceeds;

(ii) the determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may be assigned to, or

appropriated by, the Panchayats;

7

(iii) the grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated Fund of the State;

(b) the measures needed to improve the financial position of the panchayats;

(c) any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by the Governor in the interests of

sound finance of the Panchayats.

(2) The Legislature of a State may, by law, provide for the composition of the Commission,

the qualifications which shall be requisite for appointment as members thereof and the

manner in which they shall be selected

(3) The Commission shall determine their procedure and shall have such powers in the

performance of their functions as the legislature of the State may, by law, confer on them.

(4) The Governor shall cause every recommendations made by the commission under this

article together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken thereon to be laid

before the legislature of the State.

243J. The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to the

maintenance of accounts by the Panchayats and the auditing of such accounts.

243N Notwithstanding anything in this Part, any provision of any law relating to Panchayats

in force in a State immediately before the commencement of the Constitution (Seventy-third

Amendment) Act, 1992, which is inconsistent with the provisions of this Part, shall continue

to be in force until amended or repealed by a competent Legislature or other competent

authority or until the expiration of one year from such commencement, whichever is earlier:

provided that all the Panchayats existing immediately before such commencement shall

continue till the expiration of their duration, unless sooner dissolved by a resolution passed to

that effect by the Legislative Assembly of that State or, in the case of a State having a

Legislative Council, by each House of the Legislature of that State.

Part IXA – The Municipalities

243Q. (1) There shall be constituted in every State,-

(a) a Nagar panchayat (by whatever name called) for a transitional area, that is to say, an area

in transition from a rural area to an urban area;

(b) a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area; and

(c) a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area, in accordance with the provisions of this

Part;

Provided that a Municipality under this clause may not be constituted in such urban area or

part thereof as the Governor may, having regard to the size of the area and the Municipal

services being provided or proposed to be provided by an industrial establishment in that area

8

and such other factors as he may deem fit, by public notification, specify to be an industrial

township.

(2) In this article, “a transitional area”, “a smaller urban area” or “a larger urban area” means

such area as the governor may, having regard to the population of the area, the density of the

population therein, the revenue generated for local administration, the percentage of

employment in non-agricultural activities, the economic importance or such other factors as

he may deem fit, specify by public notification for the purposes of this Part.

243R. (1) Save as provided in clause (2), all the seats in a Municipality shall be filled by

persons chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the Municipal area and

for this purpose each Municipal area shall be divided into territorial constituencies to be

known as wards.

(2) The Legislature of a State may, by law, provide-

(a) for the representation in a Municipality of –

(i) persons having special knowledge or experience in local administration;

(ii) the Members of the House of the People and the Members of the

Legislative Assembly of the State representing constituencies which comprise wholly or

partly the Municipal area;

(iii) the Members of the Council of States and the Members of the Legislative Council of the

State registered as electors within the Municipal area;

(iv) the Chairpersons of the Committees constituted under clause (5) of article 243S;

Provided that the persons referred to in paragraph (i) shall not have the right to vote in the

meetings of the Municipality;

(b) the manner of election of the Chairperson of a Municipality.

243S. (1) There shall be constituted Wards Committees, consisting of one or more wards,

within the territorial area of a Municipality having a population of three lakhs or more.

(2) The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provision with respect to –

(a) the composition and the territorial area of a Wards Committee;

(b) the manner in which the seats in a Wards committee shall be filled.

(3) A member of a Municipality representing a ward within the territorial area of the Wards

Committee shall be a member of that Committee.

(4) Where a Wards Committee consists of –

(a) one ward, the member representing that ward in the Municipality; or

9

(b) two or more wards, one of the members representing such wards in the Municipality

elected by the members of the Wards Committee, shall be the Chairperson of that Committee.

(5) Nothing in this article shall be deemed to prevent the Legislature of a State from making

any provision for the constitution of Committee in addition to the Wards Committees.

243U. (1) Every Municipality, unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in

force, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer:

Provided that a Municipality shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being hard before its

dissolution.

(2) No amendment of any law for the time being in force shall have the effect of causing

dissolution of a Municipality at any level, which is functioning immediately before such

amendment, till the expiration of its duration specified in clause(1).

(3) An election to constitute a Municipality shall be completed-

(a) before the expiry of its duration specified in clause (1);

(b) before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution:

Provided that where the remainder of the period for which the dissolved Municipality would

have continued is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold any election under

this clause for constituting the Municipality for such period.

(4) A Municipality constituted upon the dissolution of a Municipality before the expiration of

its duration shall be continued only for the remainder of the period for which the dissolved

Municipality would have continued under clause(1) had it not been so dissolved.

243V. (1) A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member

of a Municipality-

(a) If he is so disqualified by or under any law for the time being in force for the purposes of

elections to the Legislature of the State concerned:

Provided that no person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than twenty-five

years of age, if he has attained the age of twenty-one years;

(b) if he is so disqualified by or under any law made by the Legislature of the State.

(2) if any question arises as to whether a member of a Municipality has become subject to

any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause(1), the question shall be referred for the

decision of such authority and in such manner as the legislature of a State may, by law,

provide.

243W. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law,

endow-

10

(a) the Municipalities with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to

function as institutions of Self-Government and such law may contain provisions for the

devolution of powers and responsibilities upon Municipalities, subject to such conditions as

may be specified therein, with respect to-

(i) the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice;

(ii) the performance of functions and the implementation of schemes as may be entrusted to

them including those in relation to the matters listed in the

Twelfth Schedule;

(b) the Committees with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to

carry out the responsibilities conferred upon them including those in relation to the matters

listed in the Twelfth Schedule.

243X. The Legislature of a State may, by law-

(a) authorize a Municipality to levy, collect and appropriate such taxes, duties, tolls and fees

in accordance with such procedure and subject to such limits;

(b) assign to a Municipality such taxes duties, tolls and fees levied and collected by the State

Government for such purposes and subject to such conditions and limits;

(c) provide for making such grants-in-aid to the Municipalities from the

Consolidated Fund of the State; and

(d) provide for constitution of such Funds for crediting all moneys received, respectively, by

or on behalf of the Municipalities and also for the withdrawal of such money there from, as

may be specified in the law.

243Y. (1) The Finance Commission constituted under article 243-I shall also review the

financial position of the Municipalities and make recommendations to the Governor as to-

(a) the principles which should govern-

(i) the distribution between the State and the Municipalities of the net proceeds of the taxes,

duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may be divided between them under this

Part and the allocation between the Municipalities at all levels of their respective shares of

such proceeds.


appropriated by, the Municipalities;

(iii) the grants-in-aid to the Municipalities from the Consolidated Fund of the State;

(b) the measures needed to improve the financial position of the Municipalities;

(c) any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by the Government in the interests

of sound finance of the Municipalities.

11

(2) The Governor shall cause every recommendation made by the Commission under this

article together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken thereon to be laid

before the Legislature of the State.

243Z. The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to the

maintenance of accounts by the Municipalities and the auditing of such accounts.

243ZA. (1) The Superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls

for, and the conduct of, all election to the Municipalities shall be vested in the State Election

Commission referred to in article 243K.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Legislature of a State may, by law,

make provision with respect to all matters relating to, or in connection with, elections to the

Municipalities.

243ZD (1) There shall be constituted in every State at the district level a District Planning

Committee to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the

district and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.

(2) The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provision with respect to –

(a) the composition of the District Planning committees;

(b) the manner in which the seats in such Committees shall be filled:

Provided that not less than four-fifths of the total number of members of such Committee

shall be elected by, and from amongst, the elected members of the Panchayat at the district

level and of the Municipalities in the district in proportion to the ratio between the population

of the rural areas and of the urban areas in the district;

(c) the functions relating to district planning which may be assigned to such Committees;

(d) the manner in which the Chairpersons of such committees shall be chosen.

(3) Every District Planning Committee shall, in preparing the draft development plan-

(a) have regard to –

(i) matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including

spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the integrated

development of infrastructure and environmental conservation;

(ii) the extent and type of available resources whether financial or otherwise;

(b) consult such institutions and organizations as the Governor may, by order, specify.

(4) The Chairperson of every District Planning Committee shall forward the development

plan, as recommended by such Committee, to the Government of the State.

243ZE (1) There shall be constituted in every Metropolitan area a Metropolitan

12

Planning Committee to prepare a draft development plan for the Metropolitan area as a

whole.

(2) The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provision with respect to -

(a) the composition of the Metropolitan Planning Committees;

(b) the manner in which the seats in such Committees shall be filled:

Provided that not less than two-thirds of the members of such Committee shall be elected by,

and from amongst the elected members of the Municipalities and Chairpersons of the

Panchayats in the Metropolitan area in proportion to the ratio between the population of the

Municipalities and of the Panchayats in that area;

(c) the representation in such Committees of the Government of India and the Government of

the State and of such organizations and institutions as may be deemed necessary for carrying

out the functions assigned to such Committees;

(d) the functions relating to planning and co-ordination for the Metropolitan area which may

be assigned to such Committees;

(e) the manner in which the Chairpersons of such Committees shall be chosen.

(3) Every Metropolitan Planning Committee shall, in preparing the draft development plan,-

(a) have regard to-

(i) the plans prepared by the Municipalities and the Panchayats in the Metropolitan area;

(ii) matters of common interest between the Municipalities and the

Panchayats, including coordinated spatial planning of the area, sharing of water and other

physical and natural resources, the integrated development of infrastructure and environment

conservation;

(iii) the overall objectives and priorities set by the Government of India and the Government

of the State;

(iv) the extent and nature of investments likely to be made in the Metropolitan area by

agencies of the Government of India and of the Government of the State and other available

resources whether financial or otherwise;

(b) consult such institutions and organizations as the Governor may, by order, specify.

(4) The Chairperson of every Metropolitan Planning Committee shall forward the

development plan, as recommended by such Committee, to the Government of the State.

243ZF. Notwithstanding anything in this Part, any provision of any law relating to

Municipalities in force in a State immediately before the commencement of the Constitution

(Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act,1992 which is inconsistent with the provisions of this Part,

shall continue to be in force until amended or repealed by a competent Legislature or other

13

competent authority or until the expiration of one year from such commencement, whichever

is earlier:

Provided that all the Municipalities existing immediately before such commencement shall

continue till the expiration of their duration, unless sooner dissolved by a resolution passed to

that effect by the Legislative Assembly of that State or, in the case of a State having a

Legislative Council, by each House of the Legislature of that State.

Part XII – Finance, property, Contracts and Suits

Chapter I – Finance

280. (1) The President shall, within two years from the commencement of this Constitution

and thereafter at the expiration of every fifth year or at such earlier time as the President

considers necessary by order constitute a Finance Commission which shall consist of a

Chairman and four other members to be appointed by the President.

(2) Parliament may by law determine the qualifications which shall be requisite for

appointment as members of the Commission and the manner in which they shall be selected.

(3) It shall be the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the president as to -

(c) the distribution between Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be,

or may be, divided between them under this Chapter and the allocation between the States of

the respective shares of such proceeds;

(d) the principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of

Consolidated Fund of India.

(bb) the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the

resources of the Panchayats in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the

Finance Commission of the State.

[inserted by the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992]

(c) the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the

resources of the Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the

Finance Commission of the State.

[inserted by the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992]

14

Schedule XI (ARTICLE 243G) [Added by Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992]

1. Agricultural, including agricultural extension

2. Land improvement, implementation of land reforms, land consolidation and soil

conservation.

3. Minor Irrigation, water management and watershed development.

4. Animal husbandry, dairying and poultry.

5. Fisheries.

6. Social forestry and farm forestry.

7. Minor forest produce.

8. Small-scale industries, including food-processing industries.

9. Khadi, village and cottage industries.

10. Rural housing.

11. Drinking water.

12. Fuel and fodder.

13. Roads, culverts, bridges, ferries, waterways and other means of communication.

14. Rural electrification, including distribution of electricity.

15. Non-consonantique energy sources.

16. Poverty alleviation programme.

17. Education, including primary and secondary schools.

18. Technical training and vocational education.

19. Adult and non-formal education.

20. Libraries.

21. Cultural activities.

22. Markets and fairs.

23. Health and sanitation, including hospitals, primary health centres and dispensaries.

24. Family welfare.

25. Women and child development.

26. Social welfare, including welfare of the handicapped and mentally retarded.

27. Welfare of the weaker sections, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the

Scheduled Tribes.

28. Public distribution system.

29. Maintenance of community assets.

15

Schedule XII (ARTICLE 243 W) [Inserted by Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992] 1. Urban planning, including town planning.

2. Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings.

3. Planning for economic and social development.

4. Roads and bridges.

5. Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.

6. Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management. 7. Fire services.

8. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects. 9. Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the handicapped and mentally retarded.

10. Slum improvement and up gradation.

11. Urban poverty alleviation. 12. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, Play grounds. 13. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspect. 14. Burials and burial grounds; cremations, cremation grounds and electric Crematoriums 15. Cattle ponds; prevention of cruelty to animals. 16. Vital statistics, including registration of births and deaths. 17. Public amenities, including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences. 18. Regulation of slaughterhouses and tanneries.

16

Appendix III

Setting up of the State Finance Commission-Relevant Provisions

1.00 Extract from the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 206(A) (1) As soon as may be after the commencement of the West Bengal Panchayat

(Amendment) Act, 1994, and thereafter at the expiry of every five years, there shall be a

Finance commission constituted by the governor, by notification, under clause (1) of Article

243-I of the Constitution of India which shall consist of not more than five members

including the Chairman, selected from amongst the jurists, economists, administrators and

social and political workers of eminence.

(2) The Finance Commission shall review the financial position of the Gram Panchayats,

panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishad and shall make recommendations as to

(a) The principles which should govern-

(i) the distribution between the State and the Panchayats of the net proceeds of taxes, duties,

tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may be divided between them, and the allocation

between the Panchayats at all levels of their respective shares of such proceeds;

(ii) the determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees, which may be assigned to, or

appropriated by the Panchayats;


(b) any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by the Governor in the interest of

sound finance of the Panchayats;

(3) The Chairman and the other members of the Finance Commission shall hold office for

one year and the term of office may be extended for six months at a time by the Government

by notification, and they shall be paid such fees and allowances as the State Government

may, by order, determine.

(4) The Chairman or any other member of the Finance commission may resign his office in

writing under his hand addressed to the Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal,

but he shall continue in office until his resignation is accepted by the State Government.

(5) The Finance Commission shall, in the performance of its functions, determine its own

procedure, and exercise such powers, summon such persons and examine such records as

may be prescribed.

17

(6) The Governor, on the receipt of the recommendations of the Finance Commission shall

take such actions as may be considered necessary, and the recommendations of the Finance

Commission together with an explanatory memorandum of actions taken thereon, shall be

laid for not less than fourteen days before the State legislature as soon as possible after such

recommendations are received and shall be accepted with such modifications as the State

Legislature may make during the sessions in which they are so laid.

2.00 Extract of West Bengal Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2011

18

19

20

21

Appendix IV

Constitution and Terms of Reference of the Fourth State Finance Commission

Government of West Bengal Finance Department

Budget Branch Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata-700 001

121-FB Kolkata, the 30th April, 2013.

NOTIFICATION

In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 243-I, and clause (1) of

Article 243Y, of the Constitution of India, read with the provisions of the West Bengal

Finance Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2011 (West Bengal Act XIII of 2011),

the Governor is pleased to constitute the 4th State Finance Commission, namely 4th State

Finance Commission, West Bengal (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) consisting of

Dr.Abhirup Sarkar, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata as the Chairman of the said

Commission along with the following member:

1. Sri Dilip Ghosh I.A.S. (Retd) Member 2. The Chairman and the other member of the Commission shall hold office from the date on which they respectively assume office up to the 30th day ofApril, 2014. 3. The Commission shall make recommendations to the Governor as to --- (A) In the case of the Panchayats (a) the principles which should govern—

(i) the distribution between the State and the Panchayats of the net proceedsof the

taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may bedivided between them under

Part IX of the Constitution and theallocation between the Panchayats at all levels of their

respective sharesof such proceeds;

(ii) the determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may beassigned to, or

appropriated by the Panchayats;


(b) the measures needed to improve the financial position of the Panchayats ;

22

(B) in the case of the Municipalities ---- (a) the principles which should govern---

(i) the distribution between the State and the Municipalities of the net proceeds of the

taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State, which may be divided between them under Part IXA of the Constitution and the allocation between the Municipalities at all levels of their respective shares of such proceeds;


appropriated by, the Municipalities;

(iii) the grants-in-aid to the Municipalities from the Consolidated Fund of the State; (b) the measures needed to improve the financial position of the Municipalities;

4. In making recommendations, the Commission shall have regard, among other considerations, to--- (i) the resources of the State Government and the demands thereon on account of expenditure

on administration, development and debts -servicing;

(ii) the resource–raising powers of the Panchayats and Municipalities

(iii) the responsibilities entrusted upon the Panchayats and Municipalities by Statutes and Government Orders; 5. The Commission shall determine its own procedure.

6. Names of other three members of the Commission shall be notified in due course.

7. The Commission shall make its report available by the30th day of April, 2014.

By order of the Governor, H.K.DWIVEDI, Principal Secretary to the

Government of West Bengal.

23


Budget Branch

275-FB Kolkata, the 7th June, 2013.

NOTIFICATION

The Governor is hereby pleased to appoint Shri Swapan Kumar Paul,WBCS(Exe)

(Retired), former Special Secretary in Finance Department, Govt. of West Bengal to be the

Member Secretary of the Fourth State Finance Commission constituted under the Fin. Deptt.

Notification No.121-FB dt.30.04.2013.

By order of the Governor Sd/- H.K.Dwivedi Principal Secretary to the Government of West Bengal


Budget Branch

No.2164-FB Dated, the 19th March,2014

NOTIFICATION

Whereas Shri Abhirup Sarkar, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, joined as

Chairman, Fourth State Finance Commission, West Bengal on 03.05.2013 and has been

tendering services since his joining.

Now the Governor in terms of sub-section (1) Section 7 of the West Bengal Finance

Commission(Miscellaneous Provisions)Act,2011 has been pleased to decide to treat the

services of Shri Abhirup Sarkar, as Chairman, Fourth State Finance Commission, West

Bengal, as on part time basis with effect from his date of joining i.e.03.05.2013 until further

orders.

By order of the Governor Sd/- A.R.Chakraborty

OSD & E.O.Secretary to the Government of West Bengal

24

Government of West Bengal

Finance Department Budget Branch

No.2165-FB Dated, the 19th March, 2014

NOTIFICATION

Whereas Shri Dilip Ghosh, IAS (Retired) joined as Member, Fourth State Finance

Commission, West Bengal on 02.05.2013 and has been tendering services since his joining.

Now the Governor in terms of sub-section (1) Section 7 of the West Bengal Finance

Commission (Miscellaneous Provisions)Act,2011 has been pleased to decide to treat the

services of Shri Dilip Ghosh, as Member, Fourth State Finance Commission, West Bengal,

as on part time basis with effect from his date of joining i.e.02.05.2013 until further orders.

By order of the Governor Sd/- A.R.Chakraborty

OSD & E.O.Secretary to the Government of West Bengal


Budget Branch

370-FB Dated 7th July, 2014

NOTIFICATION

The Governor is hereby pleased to appoint Smt. Ruma Mukherjie, D/o Late Bolendra

Nath Mukherjie of 41 Broad Street, Kolkata-700 019 to be the Member of the Fourth State

Finance Commission constituted under the Finance Deptt. Notification No.121-FB dt.

30.04.2013, on full time basis with effect from the date of her joining.


25


Budget Branch

521-FB Dated 4th August, 2014

NOTIFICATION

In partial modification of notification No.370-F.B. dated 07.07.2014 of Finance

(Budget) Department, Government of West Bengal, the Governor has been pleased to decide

that the services of Smt. Ruma Mukherjie, D/o Late Bolendra Nath Mukherjie of 41 Broad

Street, Kolkata-700 019 as Member, Fourth State Finance Commission, West Bengal shall

be on part-time basis instead of full time basis with effect from her date of joining to the

Commission until further order.


156

Appendix-IX Summary of Studies Commissioned 1. Study on Efficient Allocation of Funds and Performance Evaluation of Urban Local

Bodies: A Case for West Bengal by Chiranjib Neogi and Amita Majumder, Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, 1.00 Municipalities play an important role in providing several important services like

water, sanitation, storm water drainage and roads. To fulfil the demand of services by the

households under the jurisdiction of municipalities, these local bodies need to be well funded

and spend efficiently. Central and local governments provide considerable tied and untied

funds to the local bodies for provision and maintenance of services provided by the local

bodies. However, despite these resources, most of the municipalities continue to perform

poorly in the delivery of basic services to their communities.

1.02 Government collects taxes from constituents to finance the delivery of public goods,

and tax payers and citizens have the political and democratic right to know if these resources

are used efficiently. Funds used inefficiently will have negative effect on the quantity and

quality of public goods and service delivery to communities. It is thus vital to evaluate the

spending efficiency of municipalities for providing citizens with the necessary information to

monitor their political representatives and get good value for their money.

1.03 Some municipalities are fiscally stressed due to increased demand for services and

other economic and socio-demographic circumstances. Therefore, the current resources

available with the municipalities, no matter how limited, must be spent efficiently to ensure

the optimum outcomes as prescribed by policy and the demand of communities.

1.04 Researchers are often interested in the question of whether grants from the state or

central governments stimulate higher level of spending by local governments, or do they

rather substitute for local tax revenue. Literature on the performance of local governments is

concerned with the question of whether observed changes in expenditures are associated with

analogous change in the actual level of pubic goods or services or whether increases in

157

expenditure lead to waste of resources and losses in productive efficiency. It is thus important

to assess and monitor the performance of local governments of a state. The reasons are as

follows: the local bodies are generally used as key instruments in implementing the policies

of regional developments like health, education, environment through providing the basic

amenities to the people. The dismal functioning of any local government in providing the

amenities to the people may lead to various health hazards, social crime and social unrest

among the people.

So to maintain a decent quality of life the need for a healthy local government is

major concern of any state government. These local bodies are controlled by different

political organizations and under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Urban and Municipal

Development. However, they have some independent authority to implement the policies

taken by the State Government and use of funds for development purposes.

1.05 The aim of this study was initially twofold: (i) to assess the performance based on

consumers’ perceptions and (ii) to assess the performance of the urban local bodies on the

data supplied by them. Due to paucity of data on revenue and expenditure of the

municipalities in West Bengal, the analysis have been restricted to performance of these

municipalities on the basis of consumers’ satisfaction data of randomly selected household of

some selected municipalities in West Bengal. Comparison of services provided by the

municipalities observed from the survey with the benchmarks of services targeted by the

West Bengal government shows that in almost all the services the municipalities are far away

from the benchmark values. However, the estimated figures from the survey of the services

like continuity of water supply, quality of water supply and coverage of toilets are closer to

the benchmark level but for a few municipalities whose performances are very poor. It is

expected that a particular municipality can never satisfy the households under their

jurisdiction with respect to each and every services it provides to its consumers or

households. Naturally, ranks of the municipalities are different on the basis of their

performance with respect to any particular service. It is found from our survey that the rank

of Madhyamgram municipality is on the top with respect to five services among the fifteen

services we have considered. On the other hand Kurseong Municipality can be said to be the

worst municipality in terms of the services provided since its rank is lowest with respect to

four services among the total fifteen services it provides to the households.

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1.06 From the tables and graphs of the comparison of provision of services in which

household are highly satisfied (between 75% to 100%) it has been found that in sanitation

and street light most of the households are highly satisfied. In respect of water supply and in

overall rating of the municipalities most of the households are moderately satisfied (between

50% to 75%).

1.07 The efficiency analysis of 83 municipalities among 127 municipalities shows that the

average efficiency of these institutes remains almost same with a mild increasing trend. The

number of efficient municipalities, which ranges from 26 to 36, varies over time. Fifteen out

of 83 municipalities are efficient throughout the period considered in the study. These

municipalities are Berhampur, Bhatpara, Bishnupur, Burdwan, Dankuni, Islampur, Jangipur,

Kamarhati, Khirpai, Mal, North Barrackpur, Panihati, Rajpur Sonarpur, Siliguri, Sonamukhi.

1.08 Comparison of services provided by the municipalities observed from this survey with

the benchmarks of services targeted by the West Bengal Government shows that in almost all

the services the municipalities are far away from the benchmark values. However, the

estimated figures from the survey of the services like continuity of water supply, quality of

water supply and coverage of toilets are closer to the benchmark level but for a few

municipalities whose performances are very poor.

2. Study on Evaluation of State Finances by Sugata Marjit (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta) Jayanta Kumar Dwibedi (Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, Kolkata) Tushar K. Nandi (CTRPFP, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta)

I. Introduction

1.01 The dismal state of government finance of West Bengal has frequently been

highlighted in the last few years. As shown in Reserve Bank of India reports on state finance,

West Bengal has fared poorly in terms of usual parameters when its finances are compared

with those of the other states. Its performance in this area is even worse than that of the so-

called backward states. West Bengal is at present in a dire state of fiscal and financial

stringency manifested in high revenue and fiscal deficit. A number of factors are said to be

159

responsible for the present state of state finance and the debt related problems. This study

seeks to evaluate some important aspects of West Bengal’s fiscal situation to identify factors

behind state’s dismal performance.

1.02 The time period under consideration captures the performance of the state from 2002-

03 to 2011-12. The period has a historical and political significance unlike any other state. It

marks the last decade of the rule of the last regime and makes the beginning of the new

Government, now in power for the last three years. To examine the effects of certain new

initiatives of the new government to improve the fiscal condition of the state, the study has

been extended up to 2012-13 wherever data is available. The study looked for clues to

possible remedial policies through a careful scrutiny of the fiscal scenario and related

administrative issues over the last decade or so keeping in mind that the inherited fiscal

burden is not likely to be streamlined anytime soon.

1.03 The critical issue that stands out in the fiscal history of the state is extremely delayed

implementation of the FRBM Act. Such late awakening, politically intentional or otherwise

has had a crippling effect on the fiscal strategy of the state which naturally depicts a

damaging picture when compared to the states who have adopted it on time. This is a glaring

mistake of missed opportunity and a story of strategic shifting of debt burden to future.

Implementation of late and staggered adoption of FRBM is felt on the extent of deficit and

fiscal discipline.

II. State Profile -West Bengal

2.01 West Bengal is one of the most densely populated states of India, with a population

density of 903 per sq. km. whereas the national average is 382 per sq. km. The state is a

midsized state in terms of economic activities. When ranked in terms of per capita income,

the state comes at 10th position among seventeen general category states of India. State’s

constant price (04-05) per capita income at Rs. 36504 in 2012-13 is marginally below the

India average at Rs. 39143.

2.02 When we compare the growth rates of constant price (2004-05 base) GSDP of the

state with GDP growth rate of the country we find that the state’s growth performance

160

remained below the country performance. Last ten years’ (2003-04 to 12-13) average annual

GSDP growth rate of the state at 7.04% was lower that the India average at 7.87%.

2.03 Apart from looking at the absolute volume of production (GSDP) and its growth rate,

it is also important to look at the sectoral composition of GSDP. Like common Indian

scenario, tertiary sector in West Bengal contributes the highest followed by secondary and

primary sector. But it is important to note that the contribution of industry is substantially

lower in the state than the national average. The manufacturing sector in West Bengal in

2012-13 has contributed only 10 per cent to GSDP, whereas the national average is at 15.8

per cent. Share of industry, particularly registered manufacturing, has shrunk drastically.

Though significant structural changes have taken place for all the states and the national

economy away from agriculture to services, most of the other states experienced a moderate

rise in the share of industry. In case of West Bengal share of industry declined consistently

over the years. It is also interesting to note that the contribution of tertiary sector is higher in

West Bengal than the national average.

III. Fiscal Performance Index (FPI)

3.01 As can be seen from table III.1, West Bengal remained at the bottom (17th rank) for

the entire period. Though some of the states have altered their relative positions, West

Bengal’s poor fiscal performance continued throughout the entire period.

Table III.1: Fiscal performance of Indian states

State Ranking (2002-03) Ranking (2011-12)

Andhra Pradesh 7 5

Bihar 16 14

Chhattisgarh 2 2

Goa 4 8

Gujarat 8 9

Haryana 3 4

Jharkhand 11 12

Karnataka 1 1

Kerala 10 13

Madhya Pradesh 9 6

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State Ranking (2002-03) Ranking (2011-12)

Maharashtra 6 7

Odisha 15 10

Punjab 13 16

Rajasthan 12 11

Tamil Nadu 5 3

Uttar Pradesh 14 15

West Bengal 17 17

Source: Authors’ calculation based on RBI and CSO data

IV. Expenditure and Revenue

4.1 State’s revenue expenditure remained around 13.8% of GSDP which is lower than

that of many comparable states. But when the study compared the revenue generating

performance in terms of revenue receipt (RR) to GSDP ratio it found that the state had failed.

In fact state’s revenue receipt at 9.8% of GSDP is lowest among all general category states.

4.2 Based on an analysis of expenditure patterns of different states of India, the study

observed that at least with respect to the size of the economy West Bengal has not spent

excessively. Clearly the dismal state of West Bengal finance is primarily due to its inability to

generate sufficient revenue to finance its regular maintenance expenditure. Failure in revenue

generation left very little space for expenditure management of the state as the state is

spending a major portion of its revenue expenditure on committed items. Committed

expenditure of a state mainly consists of interest payments, expenditure on salaries and

wages, pensions and subsidies.

4.3 It is clear that some part of West Bengal’s underperformance in tax collection can be

explained in terms of its consumption behaviour. However, there are other factors at play

which are responsible for poor tax effort of the state.

4.4 It is, however, not clear what are the other factors behind West Bengal’s poor revenue

tax effort. Some researchers argued that the informal nature of the West Bengal economy is

behind the state’s poor revenue generation. Over the years West Bengal economy has

162

experience rapid informalisation of its economic activities. Share of industry, particularly

registered manufacturing, has shrunk drastically. Though significant structural changes have

taken place for all the states and the national economy away from agriculture to services,

most of the other states experienced a moderate rise in the share of industry. In case of West

Bengal share of industry declined consistently over the years. Poor manufacturing

performance along with decline in the share of agriculture compelled a vast educated

unemployed labour force to set up small businesses depending on their own means. A huge

number of the job seekers have been absorbed in the informal sector, mostly in retail trading

and small transport business.

4.5 The system of governance in West Bengal, banking on informalisation, managing

illegalities and merging the barrier between the state machinery and political management,

has been taking its toll on government revenue.

4.6 West Bengal’s non-tax revenue grew from INR 2892.3 Crore in 2002-03 to INR

15229 Crore in 2011-12 with a compounded annual growth rate of 20.27% which looks

impressive when compared against other general category states which grew at an average

rate of 17.56%. This impressive performance however was largely due to central grants

which saw a CAGR of 22.5% during this period. The own non-tax revenue (ONTR) of the

state grew only at a CAGR of 8.3 %. With this poor ONTR performance the share of ONTR

in total non-tax revenue (NTR) has fallen from 22.62% in 2002-03 to only 8.8% in 2011-12.

Clearly the share of Central Grants in NTR has increased over the years.

V. Deficit and its Financing

5.1 Failure in revenue generation coupled with a massive commitment expenditure

burden resulted in huge deficit both in the revenue and fiscal account. An analysis of three

fiscal parameters-Revenue Deficit (RD), Fiscal Deficit (FD) and Primary Deficit (PD)- to

understand overall fiscal imbalances of the state have been attempted in this section.

5.2 In absolute terms, West Bengal had to maintain a very high level of both revenue and

fiscal deficit over the years. While most of the general category states in India managed to

report surplus in their revenue account, only few states, like West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala and

Maharashtra are still suffering from revenue deficit problem.

163

5.3 The revenue account of the state suffered heavily in 2009-10 due to implementation

of state’s Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. The deterioration in FD/ GSDP and PD/

GSDP ratios in that year is attributable solely to the increase in RD-GSDP ratio. Fortunately,

Revenue, fiscal and primary deficits relative to GSDP showed declining trends afterwards

and it is still continuing. This improvement can be attributed to state’s enactment of FRBM in

July 2010.

5.4 Apart from absolute amount of deficit, what is more worrying is the nature of fiscal

deficit of the state. The ratio of revenue deficit to fiscal deficit indicates the quality of deficit.

High share of revenue deficit in fiscal deficit indicates that the state is using its additional

borrowing to finance current expenditure. This ratio has consistently stayed over 80% until

2011-12 and then it has dropped marginally to 72% in 2012-13. Persistently high ratio of

revenue deficit to fiscal deficit also indicates that asset base of the State was continuously

shrinking and a part of borrowings did not have asset backup. Primary deficit of a state

measures fiscal deficit net of interest payments. A very high gap between fiscal deficit and

primary deficit indicates that state’s fiscal deficits are mainly due to very high interest

payments. Financing of current consumptions (revenue expenditure) through borrowings

increases future revenue deficits, leading to a vicious cycle of revenue and fiscal deficits

nourishing each other.

VI. Debt Profile

6.1 The debt burden of the state at present stands at Rs. 226193.37 crore as on 31st March

2013 , recording a CAGR of 11.64% over the ten year period 2002-12. This naturally calls for

large debt related obligations, with a repayment liability to be discharged in future. The state

has enacted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2010, with the

commitment to progressively eliminate Revenue Deficit by 2014-15, and reduce Fiscal

Deficit and Debt Ratio by 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. The level of debt has grown

exponentially over the years, especially after 1999-2000. In 1998-99, Bengal had a total debt

of close to thirty two thousand Crores, whereas in 2012-13, it has exceeded the level of two

Lakh twenty five thousand Crores (nearly seven fold increase in fourteen years).

164

6.2 The Debt-to-GSDP Ratio is one of the important indicators of the fiscal health of an

economy. It is the amount of debt of a state as percentage of its Gross State Domestic Product

(GSDP). Lower is the ratio; better is the fiscal health of the state. The Debt – GSDP ratio was

highest in 2004-05 and is falling slowly later on. However, the rate of fall is not that

encouraging. In order to have the ratio to decrease the rate of growth of GSDP has to be

higher that of debt. For West Bengal, though the GSDP growth rate has managed to surpass

the growth rate of Debt, the difference between the two growth rates is marginal enough to be

worried about.

VII Delayed Implementation of FRBM Act in West Bengal

7.1 Though almost all States have enacted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget

Management Act between September 2002 and May 2007 West Bengal had a delayed

implementation of the same. Though the Twelfth Finance Commission had recommended the

states to enact the legislation to bring down the fiscal deficit to sustainable levels and revenue

deficit to zero by 2008-09, the then Govt. of West Bengal implemented it only in July 2010.

According to a report by Comptroller and Auditor General, due to delayed enactment of the

fiscal responsibility legislation, the state could not avail of total relief of Rs 3157.90 Crore

during 2005 to 2010 on account of debt relief, relief on interest payment and debt waiver on

outstanding government of India loans.

7.2 To summarize, we may see that two of the three targets set by the West Bengal Fiscal

Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2010, namely, Fiscal Deficit as percentage of

GSDP and Debt as percentage of GSDP have met their respective targets so far. But

achieving the target for Revenue Deficit seems to be a distant reality.

VIII. West Bengal Finance: Mid Term Projections

8.1 A projection of different components of Revenue Receipt and Revenue Expenditure

for the next five years is presented below. In case of Own Tax Revenue the study has

considered three alternative scenarios. Scenario 1 is the most likely scenario where State’s

Own Tax Revenue Receipt has been assumed to grow at last ten years average annual growth

rate (16.9%). Scenario 2 is an optimistic scenario where the projected growth rate is the

average of top five performing years of the last decade. The growth rates of OTR have been

165

calculated for the last ten years and the average growth rate of top five years comes at 23.2%.

Scenario 3 is the most pessimistic one and can be termed as conservative scenario where

the projected growth rate is the average of bottom five performing years of the last decade.

This pessimistic growth rate comes at 10.5%. Other components of Revenue Receipt (Own

Non Tax Revenue, Central Tax Share and Grant in Aid from the Centre), Revenue

Expenditure and GSDP of the state have been assumed to grow at last ten years annual

average growth rates.

Table VIII.1: Fiscal Indicators: Future Projections

(In Rs. Crore)

Actual Projections

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

OTR (Scenario 1) 14419 16900 21129 24938 32809 38347 44819 52383 61224 71558

OTR (Scenario 2) 40437 49839 61426 75708 93310

OTR (Scenario 3) 36256 40065 44274 48926 54066

ONTR 4966 2438 2381 1340 1918 2083 2262 2457 2668 2897

Share of Union Taxes 11322 11648 15955 18588 21226 24834 29056 33996 39775 46537

Grant in aid 6197 5935 7800 13889 12343 15602 19720 24927 31507 39825

RR (Scenario 1) 36904 36922 47264 58755 68296 80865 95857 113762 135175 160817

RR (Scenario 2) 82956 100877 122805 149658 182569

RR (Scenario 3) 78775 91104 105653 122876 143325

RE 51613 58500 64538 73326 82111 93376 106187 120755 137323 156163

RD (Scenario 1) -14709 -21578 -17274 -14571 -13815 -12511 -10330 -6993 -2148 4655

RD (Scenario 2) -10420 -5310 2050 12335 26406

RD (Scenario 3) -14601 -15083 -15102 -14446 -12837

GSDP 341942 398880 460959 528316 612701 697707 794506 904735 1030258 1173195

RD/GSDP (Scenario 1) -4.3% -5.4% -3.7% -2.8% -2.3% -1.8% -1.3% -0.8% -0.2% 0.4%

RD/GSDP (Scenario 2) -1.5% -0.7% 0.2% 1.2% 2.3%

RD/GSDP (Scenario 3) -2.1% -1.9% -1.7% -1.4% -1.1%

Source: Authors’ calculation

8.2 Based on the revenue and expenditure projections the study has estimated the revenue

deficit and its share to GSDP as well. Under scenario 1 the state is expected to come out of its

revenue deficit problem in the year 2017-18. The state is expected to do well and can report a

surplus in its revenue account in 2015-16 if it can raise its own tax revenue growth rate to a

level assumed in scenario 2.

166

Study on Accountability of Local Governments in West Bengal – A Pilot study on Gram Panchayats by Sandip Mitra, Kajal Dihidar, Shradha Mehta and Doyel Koyal of Sampling and Official Statistics Unit ,Indian Statistical Institute

1.01 The study with limited number of GPs tried to understand the issues relating to

accountability of the Gram Panchayats. A detailed analysis of the fund flow dynamics for all

the GPs has been undertaken. It has been observed that non uniformity of fund flow within

and over the years has created major hurdle for GP functioning. The lack of understanding

about entitlements has compounded the problem further. The Planning Process of the GPs has

been thwarted due to the absence of synergy with upper tiers. All these have complicated

accountability initiatives. The absence of comprehensive auditing and absence of any asset

register has raised questions on transparent functioning. Gram Panchayats are expected to

evolve as independent entities (especially while dealing with funds like SFC) with the active

help and support of the upper tiers.

1.02 In the current study, it was observed that the GPs did not have any prior knowledge of

fund flow and entitlements. From the focus group discussion with the functionaries of GPs, It

was evident that they did not have any idea of the basis of fund transfer. Some of these GPS

mentioned that the amounts are calculated with a slight mark up on last years’ allocation. The

lack of understanding by the GPs might be due to several reasons. The following are some

the possible reasons as observed in the study:

1. Complicated formula and basis of allotment advocated by SFC could not be understood by

GP functionaries.

2. The requisite allotment (as per the formulae) was never made to any GP over time

3. The GPs appeared to be heavily dependent on the Upper tiers, the Panchayat Samities (PS)

and Zilla Parishads for various purposes. The apparent control of upper tiers (especially PS)

have created bottleneck for GPs to take independent and timely decisions (mainly on fund

usage). The Plans initiated by the GPs in most of the cases are not returned to the GPs with

comments of suggestions. As a matter of fact, questions were raised if SFC fund has been

untied in reality!

4. Monthly fund positions of various GPs are uploaded in a given format (form 26). Yearly

fund position is available in the specific format of form 27. It must be mentioned that the

forms appear to be complicated as they contain allocation and uses of various schemes

167

(including those not in practice currently). It is rather difficult for common people to extract

and process such information available in the respective format of the huge data base. It is

often argued that accountability of Governments might increase through ensuring availability

of data (especially on financial transactions) online. It is thus important for the sake of

transparency that the forms should be made simpler so that members of the public can

understand the data without much hurdle.

5. Most of the funds arrive at the last quarter of a financial year and most of the spending

takes place in the last quarter. This clearly indicates non-uniform fund flow and use across

various quarters. Question normally arises about the management of the funds received so

late. One possibility might be that the GPs are unable to spend the fund in the same financial

year.

6. A significant portion of fund remains unused (parking of funds) with the GPs. Major

reason for parking has been the delay in arrival of funds. Of other reasons, inefficiency in

fund management has also been noted.

1.03 The following are some of the immediate recommendations:

1. Simplification of data structure online: The forms available online might be modified to

include current schemes and fund transfers involved. Older schemes not in vogue might be

kept as archival data.

2. Computerisation of accounts: Computersisation of the data adopting GPMS to be made

mandatory for all GPs. This is expected to bring more transparency to the GP functioning.

3. Prior declaration of entitlements and time schedule: The state Government may think of

declaring the entitlements and the disbursement schedule in the beginning of any financial

year for the sake of efficient planning by the GPs

4. Comprehensive audit (to include online and passbook data): Conventional audit procedures

should include online data to capture fund flow dynamics.

5. The reports of the audits (if not forbidden by regulation) should be made public as much as

possible

6. SFC projects implemented list in public domain (including costs): The list of projects

implemented in respective GPs and the cost incurred may be released in public domain

(preferably online)

7. Direct Fund transfers to GPs: It is recommended that the funds to the GPs to be transferred

directly from the State Government. This would ease the functioning of the GPs

168

8. Social audit (including internal audit): Periodic social audit for projects implemented to be

undertaken by independent organisations for the sake of transparency

9. Asset register and resource map: The GPs should prepare an asset register and resource

map to help in planning for development. If need arises, expert groups may be engaged for

the purpose.

10. Central Sponsored Schemes to be handled by separate cadres: To make best use of

manpower of the GPs for routine work, central schemes to be handled by separate cadres as

far as practicable.

11. The Annual Plans of the GPs: For the information of the citizens annual plan of GPs to be

released in public domain (unless otherwise forbidden by law)

Study on Accounting and Audit by Archana Patro , Fellow Indian Institute of Management Indore and Assistant Professor (Finance & Accounting Area)

Observations: The rural local bodies in West Bengal were following single entry cash basis

accounting. However, from the FY 2003-2004, the Zilla Parishads and the Panchayat Samitis

adopted double entry system of accounting and the Gram Panchayats also adopted the double

entry system of accounting on and from the financial year 2008-09. It may be noted that the

rural local bodies in West Bengal are yet to adopt accrual basis of accounting. As a result, the

cash basis of accounting records transactions only on receipts and payments of cash (for

incomes and expenses items) and not when such incomes or expenses accrue to rural local

bodies. As a result, an analysis of the true and fair view of the activities of the rural local

bodies is not possible as income accrued but not received and expenses incurred but not yet

paid are not reflected in the financial statements of the rural local bodies. Following are some

of the important limitations of the existing Panchayat Accounting system in West Bengal:

a. Lack of definite accounts heads and ancient audit rules hinder financial control on modern

lines.

b. Without the help of trained employees, sophisticated accounting practices cannot be

adopted. In Panchayats, there is shortage of trained employees.

c. Details about different programmes are not available from the books of accounts, because

Accounting break up of programmes are not prepared.

d. Valuation of assets is considered in accounts without any application of either appreciation

or depreciation of assets, which fails to show the correct present value of the assets.

169

e. All properties belonging to the Panchayat Bodies are not properly valued

f. No income and expenditure account is prepared in the accounts; only receipts and

Payments account is prepared. Hence, real operating performance and the results thereof are

not revealed.

g. A proper Balance sheet is not prepared. As a result, the financial state of affairs cannot be

obtained.

h. The present internal audit system is outdated, ineffective and inadequate.

i. There is neither any accountability nor any motivation for maximising collection of own

source of revenue.

j. There is no concrete guideline for the utilization of fund collected through own source of

revenue in case of Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis.

k. The present statutory audit practices are not very useful in the sense that such audit usually

gets converted into cash transaction audit only. Besides, serious attention to the lapses

pointed out by the auditors is not given by the authorities as a whole.

Recommendations Most of the above mentioned limitations of the PRI accounting system in West Bengal can

be removed by adopting accrual basis of accounting. The present system of double entry cash

basis of accounting should be replaced by double entry accrual system of accounting.

A major capacity building programme need to be launched for preparing the system & for

training the people who are going to work on it for running the modified accounting & audit

practices in a seamless manner.

While we may have cash accounting system to begin with, it should have inbuilt facility to

move to accrual accounting.

Since sanction of the posts of Panchayat Accountants and then their recruitment & training

may take long time, one way to put the urgently needed new system in place, would be to

outsource the same as done in Karnataka.

The Government may consider institutionalizing a proper mechanism for timely

submission of Utilization Certificates by the grantees.

Proper controls for timely submission of accounts by Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The systematic preparation of budget will enable the Panchayati raj institutions to assess

their income and expenditure position.

The problem of classifying and codifying transactions according to function wise and head

wise while entering them into the accounting software at the ground level leads to incorrect

170

disclosures of accounting information. This happens due to the lack of proper orientation of

the employees at micro level.

Problem arises when the primary accounting document like one Bank Payment Voucher or

Cash Payment Voucher includes expenses relating to more than two functions as well as

heads.

The three tier accounting classification consisting of Major Heads, Minor Heads and

Object Heads is supposed to be captured by PRIA Soft (Panchayati Raj Institutions

Accounting Software). The software is reportedly designed to provide mapping of the state-

specific classification to the revised classification proposed by CAG.

This is meant to enable the Panchayats in the states to carry on with their ongoing

accounting classification while at the same time enabling Government of India to view the

accounting details of the PRIs as per the classification prescribed by the CAG

However, in view of the lack of Internet connectivity in many PRIs, an offline version of

the software should be made available. Panchayat level users can enter their account details

locally and periodically update the data on the online site. This will encourage even PRIs

with no Internet connectivity to use the software.

The accounting of Panchayati raj institutions should be theoretically and practically

consistent i.e. the practice should be subject to a set of principles. Accounts of receipts and

expenditure of every Panchayati raj institutions should be maintained for every financial year

in such form as may be prescribed.

State Finance Commission can help in capacity building by providing support or funds to

enable the meaningful compilation of accounts by PRIs, to firm up accounting formats and

standards, and to switch over to accrual accounting in due course, including building

infrastructure, undertaking competent scrutiny of PRI accounts, and facilitating audit

inferences; assessing the extent and nature of arrears of accounts and audit, and framing a

phase-wise programme for the liquidation of such arrears, including timely legislative

reviews; to impress the need for broadening the role of CAG for the regular statutory audit of

PRIs through necessary amendments to the relevant acts; and to help build an interactive

electronic network linking accounting, auditing, reviewing, financing, and monitoring

centers.

Study on investment requirements for provision of Core Services and own-resource generation by the Panchayatsin West Bengal by the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata

171

1.00 Identifying Core Service: A Suggested Approach 1.01 Objectives of the Study:

(a) To identify the core services that PRIs must provide to the rural population (including population living in the peri-urban areas);

(b) To suggest population-based and area-based norms for the identified core services that the PRIs should target to achieve within a time frame;

(c) To estimate investment requirements (separately for capital expenditure and revenue expenditure or capital investment and maintenance expenses) for each PRI for providing the select core services following the prescribed norms;

(d) To explore the possibility of augmenting the PRIs’ own revenues which could at least partially meet the investment requirements assessed in (c).

(e) Suggest governance, monitoring and regulation related mechanisms at the PRI level for efficient and equitable provision of the core services.

1.02 The primary survey undertaken for the study collected information from 1859 respondents (citizens) living in 798 households, 248 Panchayat members and all Sachibs or Executive Assistants in 16 GPs. Select blocks of household questionnaire were addressed to three categories of respondents – adult (non-elderly) male, adult (non-elderly) female and elderly (male and female) and in total household respondents included 756 adult males, 772 adult females and 331 elderly. 1.03 Road as a service from the Panchayat that dominated people’s expectation, Scheduled Tribes, which is considered as the most vulnerable and marginalized social group, do expect drinking water, sanitation, aid/financial help, allowances/pensions and housing more in comparison to other social groups. A comparison of citizens’ expectation between backward and developed GPs show that expectation of road and drainage is higher among the citizens of developed GPs in comparison to the backward GPs. Given the huge scale of this road-drinking water twin problem, current spending look inadequate. Even when road and drinking water are adequate, poor maintenance of road and inadequate replacement of drinking water sources may lead to a situation when they remain perennial problems. 1.03 There may be some types of services that Panchayats must provide but the importance of which may not be assessed from the household or panchayat member level data. For example, a GP has the authority to issue trade registration certificate for carrying out any business within its jurisdiction. Similarly, the Panchayat Samiti has authority to issue license for running certain offensive and dangerous trades and realize license fees for those. However, the Roadmap for the Panchayats in West Bengal (Government of West Bengal 2009) cautioned that the power of issuing trade registration certificate and licenses is not merely to augment the own resources of the GP and PS, they also need to ensure

172

environmental sanitation and eco-friendly ambience, safeguard against any practice leading to pollution, prevent unlawful business in the area. The road map also suggests that each GP will be required to promote one marketing centre cum business hub for meeting their local needs. 1.04 Based on the empirical evidence of different stake holders on the problems and preference of services that should be provided by the Panchayat as core services, the study suggests an approach which also takes into account the normative list of functions enthused on the Pancyayats by the 11th Schedule. The study recommended in favour of a list of core services that should ideally have four components:

(i) Minimum essential core services: short list of minimum essential core services which constitute the core of the core. These may include both public goods and private goods.

(ii) Context-specific core services: a list of services which should vary with the level of development of an area/context. These will include mostly public goods and may be provided in backward GPs or in backward pockets (wards) in GPs.

(iii) Composition-specific core services: a list of services which should target vulnerable households/population sub-groups in an area. These will include mostly private goods targeting specific households (such as BPL) or population sub-groups (ST).

(iv) Area-potential specific core services: These should only be provided to specific areas such as census towns or markets or potential for development of business activities.

The following table summarises the suggested four components of core services with example. Components Core services Target group Remark Minimum essential core services

Road, drinking water, drainage, sanitation

All citizens List can be decided at the state level

Context specific core services

Agricultural/irrigation development, awareness, environment protection

Backward GPs/ Sansads of GPs / areas with environmental threat

Areas can be identified at the district/block level

Composition specific core services

Nutrition, housing, loan for economic activities, economic assistance, pensions etc.

Poor or vulnerable households (e.g. BPL/ST etc.)

Beneficiaries can be identified by the GPs

Core services specific to area-potential

Drainage, waste disposal, street light, house plan approval, traffic management

Areas with urban or market potential

List can be decided at the block or district level.

173

1.05 Services that lie at the centre of importance are roads, water supply, drainage and

sanitation. One of the objectives of the study was to suggest population-based and area-based

norms for the identified core services that the PRIs should target to achieve within a time

frame. Though there have been systematic efforts to set norms and standards for service

delivery in the context of urban India, the scope of such exercises pertaining to rural areas has

been rather limited. Even for urban India, there is a considerable lack of unanimity in setting

such norms and standards. Different agencies and expert group committees have suggested

different benchmarks for service provision. The task at hand is all the more complicated by

the lack of systematic studies on norms and standards for service provision in rural India,

1.06 The visits of the study team to the field have led to the observation that the shortfall

from the service norms is stark in most GP’s, even more in the backward GP’s. To find out

the shortfall from the norm of service provision, a detailed account of services actually

provided is necessary. For this, proper maintenance of the asset register is of crucial

importance. The survey reveals that most GPs do not maintain a proper asset register.

Moreover, surveys must be conducted by independent agencies in order to prevent under-

reporting of existing assets and services.

1.07 It is clear that there is a huge gap between the actual state of service delivery in rural

West Bengal and the acceptable norms of service provision. The study recommended that

estimation of investment requirements should be embedded in the process of decentralisation

itself. The PRI’s must themselves provide requisite investment figures. Estimation of

investment requirements is an exercise that needs to be conducted in levels. First, it has to be

found out how much of the services need to be provided in physical units. The prescribed

norms would give the quantum of new assets that need to be constructed in order to meet the

shortfall from the norms. On the other hand, there would also be a figure giving the

maintenance requirements in terms of physical units of the services. The GP’s must

meticulously maintain the asset register, so that it is possible to find out the existing level of

services provided by the PRI’s. Surveys to find out the quantum of existing assets in GP’s

must be conducted by independent agencies to minimize the scope of underreporting. Given

the acceptable norms of service provision, it will then be possible to find out the shortfall of

each service in each village. To find out the investment requirement of the local bodies (in

monetary terms) the cost side of the problem has to be brought in. Different agencies and

174

expert group committees provide different estimates of investment requirements at the local

level. The study suggests that this task can be accomplished with the formation of an expert

group with professionals from different disciplines, including engineers, geographers and

economists.

2.00 Own Resource Generation

2.01 Decentralisation seems to be an indisputable feature of any form of modern day

administration. It is believed to usher in more accountability and efficiency and to strengthen

the process of democratisation at the local levels of administration. However, the actual

process of decentralisation without a commensurate financial autonomy of raising revenue

and deciding expenditure patterns by the Gram Panchayats augurs little to the cause of

decentralisation and democratisation. Thus, conducting regular elections at the Panchayats

and assignment of additional functions to showcase decentralisation and democratisation can

bear little substance if they starve of finances for managing their affairs.

2.02 Thus balancing the functions and finances of the local self-government often becomes

an arduous task. In this regard, Own Source Revenue (OSR) of the local level institutionscan

not only increase the financial autonomy but also can minimise the trade-off between the

vertical and horizontal imbalances.

2.03 The major source of revenue for the local self-governing institutions in India is

intergovernmental transfers. In West Bengal, 94 per cent of the distribution of revenues to the

three tiers of local government institutions is through intergovernmental transfers. Out of

these transfers 70 per cent are from the Union government and the rest from state. The

ZillaParishads’ (ZP) and the PanchayatSamities’ (PS) dependence on these transfers are

comparatively higher than Gram Panchayats’s.

2.04 As evident from the analysis so far, the share of tax is lower than that of non-tax

revenue in OSR in West Bengal. This trend has continued in recent years too and the data

provided by P&RD also indicates the same.

2.05 The field survey revealed that non-tax revenue in OSR is mainly derived from sale of

trees and tolls. While fees contribute a share in OSR non-tax, in majority of the surveyed

Panchayats there are wide fluctuations for other categories. Surprisingly, none of the

surveyed panchayats showed any earning from user charges.

175

2.06 There is no set pattern of expenditure from the revenue earned from OSR. For a

proper classification they have categorised the same under three heads, namely,

administrative, developmental and clubbed the rest as others. Developmental expenditure

mainly includes expenditures incurred for health, education and awareness generation at the

grass root level. The main component of administrative expenditure includes tax collector’s

commission and office maintenance.

2.07 In the surveyed GPs, an attempt was made to assess the perception of the GP Sachibs

regarding OSR. When they were asked, if OSR can be increased in the Panchayat areas, each

of them answered affirmatively. Regarding avenues to increase OSR, 31.25 per cent replied

that increasing the house and building tax is the best option to increase OSR receipts while a

similar proportion suggested that leasing out the property of the Panchayats was a better

option for increasing the same. More than 18 per cent of the Sachibs were of the opinion that

increasing the trade licence rate was the best possible option for increasing OSR, while 12 per

cent chose social forestry over other options. It is interesting to note that only 6 per cent

expressed that increasing service provision by the GPs and simultaneous levying of service

charges can be an alternative for increasing OSR in the rural areas. Thus elected Panchayat

members in the state still do not consider charging citizens by providing services to be a

viable option for raising OSR.

2.08 There is very little evidence that decisions by governments to decentralize have actually been influenced by pressures from below, even though decentralization efforts may occasionally find supporters among certain sections of the people from the lower socio-economic strata. Despite its advocacy from above and consequent experimentation with various decentralizing reforms, there is very little evidence that such reforms have met with unmixed success. The fact that such experiences have so far been mixed provokes further empirical and analytical inquiry.

26

Appendix-V

(A) Questionnaire for Rural Local Bodies

Introduction 1.01 Name of the Rural Local Bodies (GP/PS/ZP) ……………………………………………..

1.02 Area of the RLB ……………………………………………….

1.03 Name of the Block (for GP and PS only) .....................................................................

1.04 Name of the District..........................................

General Information on the RLB

1.05 Population (Census 2011) Male` Female Total

Number Percentage 1.06 Age Distribution of Population ( Not yet published)

0-4 5-14 14+ Total Number Percentage

1.07 Break up of population (census) SC` ST Minorities Other Total Number Percentage 1.08 Number of Households(Census 2011)……………………………

SC` ST Minorities Other Total BPL Number Percentage

1.09 Number of BPL Household ( RHS 2005)

SC` ST Minorities Other Total Number Percentage

27

1.10 Literacy (in No and Percentage) (census 2011)

Male Female Total No % No % No %

2. Receipts

2.1 Own Revenue 2.1.1. Tax Revenue (Not Applicable for PS and ZP)

2.1.1.1 Tax on Land and Building

Year Demand Collection 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

2.1.1.2 Other Taxes (Details to be specified)

Year Demand Collection 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

2.1.2. Non-tax Revenue (NTR)

Item

The Basis, Rates and

Date of Last Revision of each NTR rates, fees

User charges etc.

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

(a) Fees

(b) Rates

( c) License

(d) Tolls

(e) Rent

28

(f)

Receipt from Institutions

(g) User Charges

(i)

Rent (Land, Buildings etc)

(j)

Sale of Trees/ Usufructs

(k) Sale of Sand

(l)

Contributions/ Donations

(m) Fines/ Penalties

(n) Dispensary

(o) Other NTRs

(Pleae specify)

Sub Total- 2.1.2

2.2. Transfers from the State 2.2.1

Salaries and

xPensions

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

Salaries

Pension* (to be

collected from SDO concerned)

Sub Total 2.2.1

2.2.2 Centrally Sponsored Programmes

Name of the Programme

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

SGSY NRLM

MGNREGA PMGY

(Graamin

29

Awas) RIDF

Watershed Development

PMGSY IWDP ISGP DFID NFBS

Sub Total 2.2.2

2.2.3 State Sponsored Programmes PROFLAL

2.2.4 Untied Funds

12TH FC 13TH fc

3RD SFC BRGF

Sub Total 2.2.4

2.2.5 General Purpose Grants Incentive Grant for Revenue

effort

Assistance to PS for

meeting critical efforts

Grants for Loan

Repayment

Sub Total 2.2.5

2.2.6 Share of Taxes

Entertainment Tax

Share of Cess Share of Tax on Profession and Calling

Sub Total 2.2.6

Total of 2.2

30

2.3 Capital receipts (Borrowings made by the local bodies come in the category of capital receipts. So also the bonds issued by them for raising resources which are repayable over a period of time. Any receipt which is repayable over a period of time beyond a year would constitute debt and would fall in the category of capital receipt.)

Item 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

2.4 Miscellaneous Receipts (These receipts are not usual, and therefore cannot be classified into any group of regular and known sources of receipts. These could be donations for any specific purpose, or raising of funds by a local body by organizing some events, or from any irregular source not coming within the domain of tax or non-tax revenue, grants from the state or central government or transfers from the state or the central government.)

Item 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

3. Revenue Expenditure 3.1 Administrative Expenditure

Item 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Salary (to be

merged)

Wages Arrear Salary Honorarium to

Elected Representatives

Stamp Postage, Telephone,

meetings etc.

Data Base TA

Maintenance of Building/ Rent

Total 3.1

3.2 Expenditure on Civic Services Item

(List of civic

Services being

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Remarks (if the cost of these services

are being provided from

any of the central or

31

provided by the Local Body at present.)

state sponsored

programmes these may be specifically mentioned)

Water Supply

Street Light Sanitation services

Solid Waste Disposal

Public Health

TOTAL 3.2

3.3 Expenditure on Maintenance of Common Property Resources Item

(Category of Common Property

Resources created and

being managed by the Local

Body at present.)

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Remarks (if the cost of these

Common Property

Resources are being provided from any of the central or state

sponsored programmes these may be specifically mentioned)

Market Complexes

Cremation / Burial Grounds

Roads Parks

Wells/ ponds/ Other Water related assets

Libraries Museums Schools

Dispensaries Pounds

Slaughter House

Tourist Center/ Paryatan

32

Kendra Other public

Conveniences (Please

Specify)

Total 3.3

3.4 Expenditure on Schemes assigned by the State Government Name of

the Scheme 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Remarks

Total 3.4

3.5 Expenditure on Schemes assigned by the Central Government Name of the Scheme 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Remarks

PMGSY

MGNREGA IAY

NRLM SGSY BRGF RIDF NSAP CFC

ADHIKAR NRHM/CHCMI

SSM/SISHU SIKHA MISSION

NBA SGRY PMGY IRDP EAS

Any other scheme

specify

33

4. Expenditure on Interest on Borrowings

Purpose of Borrowing

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Remarks

5. Capital Expenditure Assets Created Remarks on

source of funding. In case more than one

source has been utilised the share of each may be mentioned)

2007-08

2008-09 2009-10

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

BUILDING ROADS

COMMUNITY ASSETS

MARKET COMPLEX

HEALTH CENTRE

BUS STAND PUBLIC TOILET

WATER BODIES

WATER TANKS ETC

PLANTATION OTHERS Total 5

34

Annexure 1 Employees of the Local Bodies

Category Designation No of Sanctioned

Post

Scale of Pay

Total Amount required annually

No of Vacant Posts

Remarks

Permanent employees including those on

deputation from the

state government

Contractual employees

under different

programmes

Contractual employees engaged by

the local body and

being paid from its own

resources

Annexure 2 Assets (Existing and Planned to be created in the next five years) Existing Assets Felt Needs/ Assets planned to be created in the next five Years

1. Roads No. Length in KM

New construction

s planned

Length in kms.

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

Estimated Fund

require for maintenanc

e of such Assets

Cement Concrete Roads a

New Cement Concrete

Roads

b New roads

35

WBM c

Upgradation- WBM

to BT

Morrum d

Upgradation- Metal to WBM

Earthen

e

Upgradation-

Earthen to Metal

Pathways f Pathways

2. Bridges and

Culverts

No

Length in KM

Construction/

upgradation of

Nos.

a Bridges a Bridges

b Culverts b Culverts

c Subways c Subways

d Foot overbrid

ge d Foot

overbridge

3. Storm Water Drains

No.

Length in KM

Storm Water Drains

Length in kms.

a Kutcha a Kutcha

b Pucca b Pucca

c Pucca Closed c Pucca

Closed

d

Treatment plant

, if required

d Treatment plant , if required

4 Street Lightin

g

No

Street Lighting Nos.

a Tube lights a Tube

lights

b Sodium Vapour lamps

b Sodium Vapour lamps

c Mercury lamps c Mercury

lamps

d High mast

lamps d High mast

lamps

e Focus lamps e Focus

lamps

5 Water Supply Units Water

Supply In Units

36

a Quantity of

Water Lakhs

Litres a Additional Quantity of water

Lakhs Litres

b Reservoir

Capacity

Lakhs Litres b

Additional Reservoir Capacity

Lakhs Litres

c Pipe lines Kms. c

Extension of Pipe Lines

Kms.

d Connections Nos. d

New connection

s Nos.

e Public Fountai

ns Nos. e Public

Fountains Nos.

f Pumps HPs f

Installation of

Pumps HP

6. Sewerage Length in

KM Sewerage

a Sewer Line a

Extension of Sewer

Lines

b Treatment Plant b Treatment

Plant

7 Solid Waste

Management

7 Solid Waste Managemen

t Information

Tri-cycles a i) No. of

Tri-cycles

Push Carts

ii) No.of Push Carts with bins

Bins iii) No. of Bins

Vehicles b Purchase of Vehicles Numbers

i) Tractors

ii) Mini Trucks

iii) Trucks

iv) Tippers

v) Compactors

vi) Dumper placers

vii) Loaders

viii) Others (Specify)

c Formation of compost

37

yards

8. Other Assets Number Construction/

Upgradation of Numbers

a Bus Stands a Bus Stand

b Taxi Stand b Taxi Stand

c Auto Stand c Auto Stand

d Ricksaw Stand d Ricksaw

Stand

e Office Building

s e Office

Buildings

f Commercial

Complex f

Commercial

Complex

g Lodges

g

Construction of Lodges

h Rest House/O

fficial Bungalo

ws

h

Rest Houses/ official

bungalows

i Markets i Markets

j Slaughter House j Slaughter

Houses

K Tourist Centers

k Tourist Centers

l Parks l

Parks and Playground

s

m Pay and Use

Latrines m

Pay and Use

Latrines

38

4th State Finance Commission,West Bengal Questionnaire for Urban Local Bodies

Name of the ULB:

1. Basic Information : 1.01 Name of the Urban Local Body (ULB):

1.02 Year of Constitution : 1.03 Area of the ULB :

1.04 No. of Wards : 1.05 Name of the P.S.:

1.06 Name of the District: 1.07 Year when last election held :

2. General Information on the ULB

2.01 Population (Census 2011)

Male Female Total Number

Percentage

2.02 Age Distribution (2011)

0--4 5--14 14+ Total Number

Percentage

39

2.03 Break up of population (2011)

SC ST Minoritie

s Other Total Number

Percentage

2.04 Number of holdings( As per total information. Year when last General valuation of property held …………..

SC ST Minoritie

s Other Total Number

Percentage

2.05 Number of BPL Household (As per household survey of SUDA)

SC ST Minorites Other Total

Number Percentage

2.06 Literacy (2011) Male Female Total

Number Percentage

2.07 Urban Health Programme

40

No. of persons covered under various urban Male Female Total health programme monitored by SUDA. Percentage out of targetted beneficiary

2.08 e-governance

Name of citizen centric serivces provided Name of services Provided from the year

e-tender initiated. Yes / No From which year 3. Revenue Receipts

3.1 Own Revenue 3.1.1 Tax Revenue 3.1.1.1 Property Tax on Land & Building (excluding

Central Govt.Properties) (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Year

Arrear Demand

Arrear Collection Current Demand Current Collection

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

3.1.1.2 Service Charges on Central Govt. Properties

(Figures in Rs.lakh)

Year

Arrear Demand

Arrear Collection Current Demand Current Collection

41

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

3.1.1.3 Other taxes (Details to be Specified)……………………………………………………………

Year Demand Collection 2007-08

2008-09

2009-10 2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

3.1.2 Non tax revenue (NTR)

Actual collection in Rs.lakh

Items of revenue 2007-08 2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 2012-

13

a) Fees b) Trade Licence c) Water Charges, if any d) Rent e) Receipts from Institution f)Tolls (Ferry etc.) g) Sale (Revenue Nature)

42

h) Contribution/Donations (Revenue Nature) i) Fines/Penalties j) Dispensary k) Other NTR (not included above)* Sub Total 3.1.2 (a to k) *Separate sheet showing details may be enclosed

3.2 Transfer from state (Figures in Rs.lakh)

3.2.1 Salaries and pensions 2007-08 2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 (a) Non -plan Grant Received as fixed grant

(b)Non -plan Grant Received as fixed grant toward salary

© Non -plan Grant Received toward Dearness Allowance

(d) Non -plan Grant Received towards Bonus

(e) Non -plan Grant Received toward Pension relief Sub total 3.2.1 (a to e)

3.2.2 Poverty alleviation Programme of State

(Figures in Rs.lakh) 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13 a) West Bengal Urban Employment Scheme

b) House for Urban Poor c) Urban Health Programme

(d) Employment Generation of Urban Areas. e) Non-Plan Grant received towards any other item not mentioned above. f) Non-Plan Grant received towards O.& M. of Water Supply. Sub total 3.2.2 (a to f)

43

3.2.3 Shared Taxes

(Figures in Rs.lakh) 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13

a) Share of Entertainment Tax b) Share of tax on Profession,Trade and Callaings c) Share of Motor Vehicles Taxes Sub Total 3.2.3 (a to c) Total of 3.2

3.3 Tranfer from Central Govt. to revenue

3.3.1 Poverty Alleviation Programme of Central (Figures in Rs.lakh) 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13

a) SJSRY b) NSAP (IGNOAPS etc.)

Sub Total 3.3.1 (a to b)

3.4 Finance Commission Grants(Central / State)


2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13

a)12 th F.C. b) 13th F.C. (Basic Grant + Performance Grant)

c) 3rd SFC Subtotal 3.4 (a to c)

4. Capital receipts

4.1. Receipts against schemes assigned by the State Govt.


44

Name of the Schemes 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks

a) Development of Municipal Area (DMA)

b) Basic Minimum Service (BMS)

c) Spot Source

d) Water Supply

e) Construction of Municipal Building f) Purchase of land g) Any other fund not mentioned above h) Housing for Urban Poor 4.1 Subtotal (a to h) 4.2 Receipts against schemes assigned by the Central govt.


Name of the Schemes 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks a) JNNURM (UIG / UIDSSMT)

b) JNNURM (BSUP / IHSDP) c) NGRBA d) GAP e) NLCP Subtotal 4.2 (a to e)

4.3 Other Capital receipts* (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Items 2007-08 2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 a) Borrowings b) Deposit works c) Subtotal 4.3 (a to c)

45

* Borrowings made by the local bodies come in the category of capital receipts.So also the bonds issued by them for raising resources which are repayable over a period of time.Any receipt which is repayable over aperiod of time beyond a year would constitute debt and would fall in the category of capital receipt.

4.4 Miscellaneous Receipts* * (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Items 2007-08 2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 a) KEIP (Externally Aided Project) b) KUSP (Externally Aided Project)

c)

Subtotal 4.4 (a to c)

* *These receipts are not usual,and therefore canot be classified into any group of regular and known soreces of receipts.These could be donations for specific purpose,or raising of funds by a local body by organising same events or from any irregular source not coming within the domain of tax -revenue,grants from the state of central govt. of transfer from the state or the central Govt.

5. Revenue Expenditure(Actual) 5.1 Administrative Expenditure (actually incurred) (Figures in Rs.lakh) Items of Expenditure 2007-08 2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 a) Salary for regular staff b) Wages for casual/contractual workers c) Arrear Salary d)Honorarium to Elected Representatives e) Stamp Postage,Telephone,Meetins etc. f)Data Base g) TA h) Maintenance of building/Rent

46

i) Other Expenditure Subtotal 5.1 (a to i)

5.2 Expenditure on Civic Services(actual)


Items (List of civic services being provided by the local body

at present) 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13

Remarks (if the cost of those services are being

provided from any of the central of state

sponsored programmes these may be specifically

mentioned)

a) Water Supply b) Street Light

c) Sanitation Services

d)Solid Waste management

e) Public Health

Subtotal 5.2 (a to e)

5.3 Expenditure on Maintenance of Common Property Resources (actually incurred)


Items (List of civic services being provided by the local body at present.) 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13

Remarks (if the cost of those services are being

provided from any of the central of state

sponsored programmes these may be specifically

mentioned)

a) Market Complexes b) Cremation/Burial ground c) Road

47

d) Parks

e) Wells/Ponds/Other Water related assets

f) Libraries g) Museums h) Schools i) Dispensaries j) Pounds k) Slaughter House l) Tourist Centre/Paryatan Kendra

m) Drain

n) Other Public Conveniences (please Specify)

Subtotal 5.3 (a to n)

5.4 Expenditure on interest on Borrowings (actual)

(Figures in Rs.lakh) Purpose of Borrowing 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks

a)

b)

Subtotal 5.4 (a+b)

5.5 Miscellaneous Expenditure (actual) against 4.4 (Figures in Rs.lakh) Items 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks

a) b) Subtotal 5.5 (a+b)

6. Capital Expenditure 6.1 Actual Expenditure on schemes assigned by the State Govt. (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Name of the Schemes 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks a)

48

b)

c)

Subtotal 6.1 (a to c) 6.2 Actual Expenditure on schemes assigned by the Central Govt.


Name of the Schemes 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks a)

b)

c)

Subtotal 6.2 (a to c)

6.3 Actual Expenditure on Development works from municipal fund (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Items 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks a) Own Fund b) Borrowed Fund Subtotal 6.3 (a+b)

6.4 Actual Expenditure on works from fund not coverd above (actual) [MP LAD/MLA LAD etc.] (Figures in Rs.lakh)

Items 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 Remarks a) b)

Subtotal 6.4 (a+b)

49

Annexure 1 Employees/Workers of the Local Bodies

Category name of post no. of

sanctioned post

Sale of pay

No. of Employees/Workers in position as

on 01.01.2014

Total Amount Require

d annualy

(Rs.)

No. of Vacant Posts

Remarks

Permanent employees including those on deputation from State Govt.

Contractual workers under different programmes x x x x

Contractual workers engaged by the local Body and being paid from its own resources x x x

x

Annexure 2 List of Assets/Common Property resources of the Local Body as per assets register

Types of Assets No. Remarks on area and usage Bus Stand

Taxi Stand

50

Auto Stand

Rickshawa Stand

Office Building Commercial Complexes Lodges Rest Houses /Govt. House Market-Local Body a) Daily b) Weekly

Pay and use Latrines

Parks

Tourist Centre

Any other, please specify

Land used by the Urban Local Body

Staff Quaarter / Harizan Quarter

Annexure 3 Felt Need/Assets Planned to be craeted in the next five years

1 Roads

Already existing 2015-16 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20

Estimated fund require

for maintenance

of such Assets

a) New Cement Concrete Roads

b) New formations

51

c)Upgradation-C.C. to Bituminous

d)Upgradation-C.C. to Bituminous

e) Pathways

2

Construction of Nos.

a)Bridge b)Culverts c)Subways d) Foot Overbridge e) Others (specify)

3

Drainage Length in

kms.

a) Kutcha b) Pucca c) Pucca Closed d) Treatment Plant,if required Nos.

4

Street Lighting Nos. a) Tube Lights b)Sodium Vapour Lamps c) Mercury Lamps

52

d) High mast lamps

f) Focus lamps g) Others

(Specify)

5

Water Supply In Units a) Additional Quantity of water

Lakhs Litres

b) Additional Reservoir Capacity

Lakhs Litres

c) Extension of Pipe Lines kms. e) New Connection Nos. f) Public fountain Nos. g) Installation of Pumps h) Others (Specify) HP

6

Sewerage a) Extension of Sewer Lines kms. b) New Foundations kms. c) Treatment palnt

d) Others (Specify) sq.mts

7 Solid Waste Management

53

Information

7. a)

i)No. of Tricycles ii) No. of Push carts with bins iii) No. of Bins iv) Others (Specify)

7. b)

Purchase of Vehicles Nos.

i) Tractors ii)Mini Trucks iii)Tippers iv) Tippers v) Compactors vi) Dumper Placers

vii) Loaders viii) Others (Specify)

7. c) Formation of compost yards

8

Other Assets Nos. a) Improvement Bus Stand

b) Construction of Office Buildings

54

c) Construction of Commercial Complexes

d) Parks and play Grounds f) Markets-Local-Body

i) Daily ii) Weekly g) Slaughter Houses h) Others, if any, specify. h) PUBLIC TOILETS

I) Free Toilets ii) Pay and Use Latrines i) Other Infrastructure (Specify)

55

Appendix VI

The West Bengal District Planning Committee Act, 1994

An Act to provide for the constitution of District Planning committee at the district

level for consolidation of the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in

the district and preparation of draft development plan for the district as a whole.

WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the constitution of district Planning

committee at the district level for consolidation of the plans prepared by the Panchayats

and the Municipalities in the district and preparation of draft development plan for the

district as a whole;

It is hereby enacted in the Forty-fifth Year of the Republic of India, by the

Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:-

1 (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal District Planning Committee Act, 1994.

(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal, except the areas to which the provisions of

(a) the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, or

(b) the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill council Act, 1988, or any part or modification thereof,

apply or may hereafter be applied

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification

appoint.

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) “Committee” means a District Planning committee, or Siliguri Subdivision Planning

Committee, constituted under sub-section (1)of section 3;

(b) “Constitution” means the Constitution of India;

(c) “District Magistrate” includes an Additional district Magistrate, or any other

Magistrate appointed by the State Government to discharge all or any of the functions of

the District Magistrate under this Act;

56

(d) “Governor” means the governor, appointed as such under article 155, read with article

153, of the Constitution, for the State of West Bengal;

(e) “Municipality” has the same meaning as in clause(e) of article 243P of the

Constitution;

(f) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette;

(g) “Panchayat Samiti” means a Panchayat Samiti constituted under the West

Bengal Panchayat Act,1973;

(h) “Population” means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of

which the relevant figures have been published;

(i) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(j) “Rural area” means an area within a Block.

Explanation.- “Block” has the same ,meaning as in clause(20 of section 2 of the West

Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973;

(k) “urban area” means an area within a Municipality;

(l) “Zilla Parishad” means a Zilla Parishad, and includes Mahakuma Parishad for the sub-

division of Siliguri in the district of Darjeeling, constituted under the West Bengal

Panchayat Act, 1973.

3. (1) For every district the State Government shall constitute a District Planning

Committee bearing the name of the district, except for the sub-division of Siliguri in the

district of Darjeeling for which the State Government shall constitute a Planning

Committee to be called Siliguri Sub-division Planning Committee.

(2) Subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf, the State

Government shall, by notification, determine the number of members of a Committee

including-

(a) (a) the number of such members to be elected by, and from amongst, the elected

members of the Zilla Parishad :

Provided that no Sabhadhipati of a Zilla Parishad shall be elected under this clause,

(b) the number of such members to be elected by, and from amongst, the elected

members, by whatever name called, of all the Municipalities within the district or, in the

case of the sub-division of Siliguri in the district of Darjeeling, of all the Municipalities

within the sub-division;

Provided that no Chairperson of a Municipality shall be elected under this clause, and

57

(c) the number of such members, not exceeding one-fifth of the total number of members

of the Committee, as may be appointed by the State Government under sub-section (3) :

Provided that the ratio between the number of members of a Committee and the sum total

of the rural population and the urban population in the district, or, in the case of the sub-

division of Siliguri, in the district of Darjeeling, in that sub-division shall, so far as

practicable, be the same throughout West Bengal:

Provided further that four-fifths of the total number of members of a Committee shall not

exceed the total number of elected members of the Zilla Parishad:

Provided also that the number of members referred to in clause (a) shall bear, as nearly as

may be, the same proportion to the number of members, referred to in clause (b), as the

population of the rural areas bear to the population of the urban areas in the district or, in

the case of the sub-division of Siliguri in the district of Darjeeling, in that sub-division.

(3) Subject to the provisions of clause (c) of sub-section (2), the State Government shall,

by notification, appoint the members referred to therein, and such members shall include-

(a) the Sabhadhipati of the Zilla Parishad,

(b) the District Magistrate of the district, and

(c) such other members as the State Government may think fit to choose from amongst-

(i) the Sabhapatis of the Panchayat Samitis within the district,

(ii) the members of the House of the People and the Legislative Assembly of the State

elected thereto from a constituency comprising any part of the district, not being

Ministers,

(iii) the officers of the State Government or of any statutory body or Corporation deemed

by the State Government to have specialized knowledge,

(iv) the Chairpersons of the Municipalities within the district or, in the case of the sub-

division of Siliguri in the district of Darjeeling, within that sub-division, and

(v) the economists and social and political workers of eminence.

4 (1) The Sabhadhipati of the Zilla Parishad shall be the Chairperson of the Committee.

(2) As soon as may be after constitution of the Committee or in the event of any vacancy,

as the case may be, the members of the Committee shall select a Vice-Chairperson from

amongst themselves in such manner as may be determined by the Chairperson.

(3) In the absence of the Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson shall preside at the meting of

the Committee.

58

(4) The District Magistrate shall be the Secretary of the Committee and shall make

available to the Committee such assistance as may be necessary for the discharge of its

functions.

5. (1) Subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf and

such directions as that Government may issue for the purpose, the

District Magistrate shall co-ordinate and supervise all work in connection with the

election of members to the Committee.

(2) The District Magistrate shall appoint a Returning Officer and as many Assistant

Returning Officer as may be necessary for the purpose of conducting the election of

members to the Committee.

(3) The powers and functions of the Returning Officer and the Assistant Returning

Officers shall be such as may be prescribed.

(4) If any dispute arises as to the validity of an election under this Act, any person entitled

to vote at such election may, within thirty days after the date of the declaration of the

results of such election, file a petition, calling in question such election, before the

Divisional commissioner having jurisdiction, and the order of the Divisional

Commissioner in disposing of the petition shall be final.

(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act or in any other law for

the time being in force, no civil court shall have any jurisdiction to entertain any petition

calling in question the validity of any election under this Act.

(6) A member of a Committee, who is a member of -

(a) a Zilla Parishad, or

(b) a Municipality, or

(c) a Panchayat Samiti, or

(d) the House of the People, or

(e) the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall cease to be a member of the

Committee if he ceases to be a member of

(i) the Zilla Parishad, or

(ii) the Municipality, or

(iii) the Panchayat Samiti, or

(iv) the House of the People, or

(v) the Legislative Assembly of the State, as the case may be.

59

7. A Vice-Chairperson or a member of the Committee may, at any time, resign his office

by notifying in writing his intention to do so to the Chairperson and, on such resignation

being accepted, the Vice-Chairperson or the member, as the case may be, shall be deemed

to have vacated his office.

8. If the office of an elected member of a Committee becomes vacant by reason of his

death, resignation or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by election of another member

in the prescribed manner.

9 (1) The Committee shall regulate its procedure and shall, without prejudice to the

generality of such power, decide as and when and in which manner, a meeting shall be

held:

Provided that the Chairperson, when required by notice in writing by at least one-third of

the members of the Committee to call a meeting, shall do so in ordinary manner, within

one month from the date of receipt of the notice.

(2) One-third of the total number of members, subject to a minimum of ten members,

shall be a quorum for a meeting of the Committee:

Provided that no quorum shall be necessary for an adjourned meeting.

(3) The Secretary of the Committee shall maintain records of the meeting of the

committee and shall take such actions in this behalf as the Committee may decide.

10. (1) The Committee shall

(a) consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the district,

and

(b) prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole.

(2) The Committee shall, in preparing the draft development plan under clause

(b) of sub-section (1),-

(a) have regard to -

(i) matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including

spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, the integrated

development of infrastructure and environmental conservation;

(ii) the extent and type of available resources, whether financial or otherwise;

(b) consult such institutions and organizations as the governor may, by order, specify.

60

(3) The State Government may, by order, assign to the Committee such functions relating

to district planning and co-ordination and monitoring of the activities of different

departments of the State Government as may be deemed necessary.

(4) Subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf, the State

Government may, by notification, constitute an Urban Development Sub-Committee and

such other sub-committees as may be deemed necessary for carrying out the purposes of

this Act.

Provided that each such Sub-Committee shall consist of not less than seven members

selected from amongst the members of the Committee or such economists, economic

planners, administrators, or social and political workers of eminence, as the State

Government may think fit.

(5) The Chairperson of a Committee shall forward the development plan, as

recommended by such Committee, to the State Government in such manner as may be

prescribed.

11. (1) The State Government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this

Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules

may provide for all or any of the matters, which under any provision of this Act, are

required to be prescribed or to be provided for by rules.

(3) All rules made under this Act shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall

unless some later date is appointed by the State Government, come into force on the date

of such publication.

(4) All rules made under this Act shall be laid for not less than fourteen days before the

State Legislature as soon as possible after they are made and shall be subject to such

modification as the State Legislature may make during the Session in which they are so

laid.

61

Appendix VII

Action Taken Reports of earlier State Finance Commissions

In West Bengal

(A)

Action Taken Report (ATR) of First State Finance Commission

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL FINANCE DEPARTMENT.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM AS TO THE ACTION TAKEN ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE WEST BENGAL FINANCE COMMISSION IN ITS REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE

GOVERNMENT ON NOVEMBER 27, 1995.

The report of the West Bengal Finance Commission (hereinafter referred to as the

Commission) constituted under Notification No. 1023-FB dated the 30th May, 1994 together

with the Explanatory Memorandum on the action taken on the recommendations of the

Commission is being laid on the table of the House in pursuance of Article 243 I (4) and

Article 243 Y (2) of the Constitution of India. The summary of the recommendations of the

Commission relating to devolution of State taxes, grants-in-aid and other matters is contained

in Chapter 7 of the report of the Commission. Along with the summary of the

recommendations, Chapter 7 of the report also contains some observations of the

Commission .The decisions of the Government on the recommendations of the Commission

are indicated in the following paragraphs.

Grants –in-aid. Recommendation 7.02: Over the past decade, the proportion of plan expenditure for districts

has increased and, with further decentralisation, this share will go up. A substantial part of

this should be entitlements to local bodies in the form of untied funds and rest will continue

to be grants. Decision: This has been accepted by the Government.

Recommendation 7.03: Our proposal on modification of some grants to municipalities needs

mentioning. In place of Entry Tax, surcharge on Sales Tax has been introduced. As promised,

the State Government should distribute the fund to Municipalities as grants in the same

62

manner as done so far with money from the Entry Tax. State Grants on parts of collection of

Profession Tax and Motor vehicles Tax to LSGs may be discontinued. Decision: Surcharge is a part of sales tax and sales tax including surcharge is to be taken into

account for the determination of entitlements as per recommendation 7.07. As such

distribution of surcharge on sales tax separately to the Municipalities is not necessary. The

recommendation that State grants in lieu of collection of Professional Tax and as assignment

of part of Motor Vehicles Tax to local bodies may be discontinued has been accepted by the

Government.

Recommendation 7.04: Since price rise are not within the control of the Municipalities, D.A

subventions to them should cover whole of the D.A liability in respect of approved staff.

Further, since various benefits to the staff have been introduced at the instance of the State

Government, it should cover. Decision: The Government has accepted the recommendation in respect of

approved staff subject to review in due course on receipt of the recommendations of the 4th

Pay Commission.

Recommendation 7.05: A large number of Centrally sponsored Programmes such as JRY,

IRDP, and ARWSP etc. are now in operation in which the Central releases have to be

matched by proportionate State releases. Such State and Central releases would continue to

be grants and will not be part of the untied entitlement of the local body concerned.

Decision: The Government has accepted the recommendation subject to the decisions that

may be taken by the Government of India on the question of transfer of

Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes to State Government.

Tax sharing:

Recommendation 7.07: Entitlement will be financed by sharing of taxes. In lieu of sharing

individual taxes, 16 per cent of the net proceeds of all tax collected by the State in a year

should be transferred to local bodies. These will be untied funds at the disposal of the local

bodies. Such funds may be released to districts in suitable instalments, quarterly or monthly. Decision: The principle that entitlements of local bodies should be financed by sharing of

taxes has been accepted by the Government. But this has to be related to recommendations

7.39 and 7.40 i.e. clear listing of the works under the State Plan Sector and district Plan

Sector and district-wise disaggregation of departmental maintenance budget for which

detailed exercise is being done in consultation with Administrative Departments.

Devolution of Taxes:

63

Recommendation 7.08: Taxes on entertainments now collected by the State should be

handed over to local bodies. Decision: This is being examined.

Recommendation 7.09 Urban Land Tax and Multi Storied Building Tax should be handed

over to Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

Recommendation 7.10 Collection of irrigation rates along with the related responsibility of water management and routine maintenance be handed over to concerned Zilla Parishads.

Recommendation 7.11 Resources generated in Regulated Markets should be brought within the purview of DPCs and the net proceeds ploughed back in the market hinterlands.

Decisions of 7.09 to 7.11: These recommendations have been accepted by the

Government.

Own Incomes of LSGs. Recommendations 7.12 to 7.19: 7.12 The West Bengal Panchayat Act has empowered the three tiers of Panchayat to raise taxes, levies and tolls from a wide range of fields. These efforts should be stepped up.

7.13 Fiscal powers of LSGs have been set forth in various legislations, but further spread is necessary. Rules have to be framed and clarifications to be given in some cases.

7.14 Periodical assessment by the Central Valuation Board should be made mandatory and

the CVB strengthened adequately for this purpose.

7.15 The State should take up with the Union Government for timely payment of service charges for Union government properties.

7.16 Municipalities should be empowered to issue trade licences with fees at a much higher

level; to impose tolls at higher rates for heavy vehicles on municipal roads; to levy imposts

on tourists/pilgrims; to impose water tax on large users and commercial and industrial

undertakings; to introduce special conservancy charges for commercial and industrial

establishments.

7.17 There is a considerable scope for increasing non-tax revenues.

7.18 Voluntary Contributions have been a notable feature in the development activities of the Panchayats and this should be encouraged to garner more resources as well as to enhance people’s participation. Municipal Boards may also try to involve the people to improve urban facilities.

7.19 Incentive Schemes have been suggested to encourage Panchayats and Municipalities to increase their own incomes. Two per cent of entitlement due to a district will be set aside to operate an Incentive Fund.

64

Decisions 7.12 to 7.19 The Government has accepted these recommendations in

principle. The details are being worked out.

Adjustments in District Organization, Planning and District set-up. Recommendations 7.20 to 7.29:

7.20 Transferring of a few hundred crores of rupees to districts as entitlements will inevitably affect the present organisational set up. Supervision of the departmental staff, remittances of Non-plan expenditure to districts and break-downs in the State budget will have a new look.

7.21 Tax collection in the State should also adopt a new approach. The State Tax collecting

officials will work in co-opeartion with LSG functionaries. The existing Decentralised

Resource Mobilisation Scheme will no longer be necessary but the existing incentive scheme

for Small Savings should continue.

7.22 District Planning Committee (DPC) has now been given a constitutional status . In this State, for nearly a decade, planning committees at the district level were functioning. But the planning process needs to be much more comprehensive than hitherto. Also the proceeds should start from the GP level and move upwards with appropriate modifications at upper levels including the State Planning Board.

7.23 The three tiers of Panchayats and Municipalities will get money from three sources namely, own incomes including donations, entitlements and grants from the State and the Centre. The first two sources are untied and local bodies will be free to spend them according to their chosen priorities.

7.24 The projects formulated by GPs will be usually small and technically simple which may be executed with local expertise. Larger schemes will have to be vested by the PS.

7.25 Maintenance of assets created so far in blocks will be the prime responsibility of PSs.

They will also have assigned responsibilities.

7.26 ZPs will have a greater scope to create new assets and to concentrate on more complex types of maintenance. Besides, as the apex body in a district, it will have various co-ordinating responsibilities.

7.27 Maintenance and development in towns will be done by Municipal Authorities with the help, when necessary, from the ZP and the State.

7.28 A few districts have some inhabited areas which are outside the jurisdiction of Panchayat and Municipalities. These have been termed as Special Areas in this report . These will also be allotted funds in the proportion to their populations and the earmarked funds will be operated in consultation with the DPC.

7.29 There are Development Boards in a few districts besides the Panchayats. Funds for their

operations will come from the State and not from the entitlements of local bodies. Decisions 7.20 to 7.29: The Government has already accepted this approach in

general. Details will be worked out in due course.

Distribution of Entitlement Funds amongst LSGs.

65

Recommendations 7.30 to 7.37: 7.30 The entitlements suggested in this Report do not depend on accretion of additional funds, but are only a redeployment of funds which are now being spent in the districts. Instead of basing the distribution on population sizes only a few factors indicating backwardness have also been taken into, so that backward localities may get proportionately more money. The selection of indicators depended on the availability of reliable data. The entitlements in the Tables have been given in percentages.

7.31 For distribution between districts the factors taken were, population, level of non—

literacy, proportion of backward population, area of district, proportion of rural population

and inverse ratio of per capita bank deposits and of working capital of Primary Agricultural

Co-operatives taken together.

7.32 Within a district, its allocation should be divided between Panchayats, Municipalities and Special areas on the basis of respective total populations.

7.33 The distribution between Municipalities has been based on factors: population, level of non-literacy, proportion of SC/ST population and population density.

7.34 Of the total entitlements going to Panchayats the proportional allocations between three tiers are: ZP 30 per cent, all PS together 20 per cent, all GPs together 50 per cent.

7.35 The distribution between GPs has been made on the basis of population, level of non-literacy and proportion of SC/ST population.

7.36 The distribution between PSs has been based on the same three factors as in case of GPs.

7.37 Due to the special constitutional status of DGHC, the Commission has not earmarked its entitlements further amongst Municipalities, Panchayats etc. For Siliguri sub-division, the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad has been playing the role of of the ZP and has been treated accordingly.

Decisions 7.30 to 7.37: The Government has accepted these recommendations.

Other Points: Recommendation 7.38: The Tenth Finance Commission has recommended certain grants for the local bodies of the State over and above devolution recommended by the State Finance Commission. Such additionalities should flow to the districts so as to be available for use of local bodies.

Decision: The Government has accepted this recommendation.

Recommendations 7.39 and 7.40: 7.39 Works under the State plan sector and District plan sector should be clearly listed by the State Government.

7.40 Departmental maintenance budget should be disaggregated districtwise and communicated to the districts. DPCs should be involved in supervising maintenance works.

66

Decisions 7.39 and 7.40 These have already been dealt with.

Recommendations 7.41 and 7.42: 7.41 In the proposed new set up, the burden of work of Sabhadhipati, Sahakari Sabhadhipati and Executive Officer will increase considerably. Sharing of work with Chairpersons of Standing Committees will be essential. Similar distribution of work in lower rungs will also be necessary. Co-operation of departmental staff will also have to be mobilised.

7.42 Block level staff of different departments has already been placed under concerned PSs. However, some confusion is still prevailing over deployment of such staff and this should be resolved immediately.

Decisions 7.41 and 7.42: The Government will take a view, as recommended,

while undertaking the exercise for implementation of recommendations 7.39 and 7.40.

Recommendations 7.43 to 7.46: 7.43 The question of regularising excess staff in Municipalities was examined according to certain norms by the Second Municipal Finance Commission. The State Government should examine the recommendations and take a final view.

7.44 Auditing of Incomes and expenditure is a must for healthy running of local bodies. Suitable and adequate number of persons from existing employees in the District should be selected for the job who will be fully engaged in this work. No additional recruitment should be necessary.

7.45 There should be some effective penal provisions for local bodies not falling in line with financial discipline. Penal measures are also to be introduced for those Municipalities which divert development grants to meet revenue expenditure.

7.46 A new Standing Committee (Sthayee Samiti) may be created in each ZP to help develop

favourable milieu for small- scale and large industrial units Decisions 7.43 to 7.46: These will be considered in due course. Where implementation of

any recommendation of the Commission as accepted by the Government requires

enactment of a law by the State Legislature, necessary action for introduction of such

legislation will be taken in due course.

Dated, Calcutta, the 22nd July, 1996. Sd/-

Finance Minister

67

(B) Action Taken Report (ATR) of Second State Finance Commission

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL FINANCE DEPARTMENT

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM AS TO THE ACTION TAKEN ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE SECOND STATE FINANCE COMMISSION, WEST BENGAL IN ITS REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNMENT ON FEBRUARY 6, 2002.

In pursuance of Article 243 I(4) and Article 243 Y(2) of the Constitution of India, the

recommendations of the Second State Finance Commission (hereinafter referred to as the

Commission) constituted under Notification No. 1770-FB dated the 14th July,2000

together with the Explanatory Memorandum on the action taken thereon are being laid on

the table of the House. The summary of the recommendations of the Commission relating

to devolution of State taxes, Grants-in-aid and other matters is contained in chapter 6 of

the report of the Commission. The decision of the Government on the recommendations

of the Commission is indicated in the following paragraphs.

Recommendation 6.01 : The Second SFC endorses the basic framework of First SFC

allocation structure including the recommendations of 16 per cent of State taxes as

entitlement fund. We further recommend that the detailed LSG unit wise entitlement

should be included in a supplement to the Budget.

Decision: The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of providing an

entitlement fund for the rural and Urban Local Bodies. However, instead of linking the

quantum of the entitlement fund with the State’s own tax revenue, the Government has

decided to allocate the maximum amount possible out of its resources, having regard to

the demands thereon for meeting committed liabilities including the committed liabilities

in respect of rural and Urban Local Bodies and the expenditure on account of essential

State Level programmes as well as the State’s share of national level programmes being

implemented by the State.

Recommendation 6.02: We recommend that a minimum amount of Rs. 700 crore should

be provided in the budget for devolution to LSGs as ‘untied’ entitlement. We further

recommend that the detailed LSG unit wise entitlement should be included in a

supplement to the Budget.

68

Decision: The State Government has provided an amount of Rs. 350 crore in the budget

of the year 2005-06 as ‘untied’ entitlement of the rural and the Urban Local Bodies. The

State Government will make every effort to ensure that the devolution of fund to the local

bodies is maintained at least at this level.

Recommendation 6.03: We recommend sub-allocation of District Panchayat Fund as 60,

20 & 20 per cent respectively for GPs, PSs & ZPs.

Decision: The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission.

Recommendation 6.04: Two percent of 16 per cent of State tax collection, ie.0.32 per

cent be earmarked for a State level incentive fund.

Decision: The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of earmarking a

certain portion of the entitlement fund for a State level incentive fund. However, as the

quantum of entitlement fund is not linked to the State’s own tax revenue, the quantum of

incentive fund cannot also be linked to the State’s own tax revenue. Instead, the

proportion of incentive fund in the entitlement fund will be maintained at the level

recommended by the Commission.

Recommendation 6.05: LSGs in hill areas should be given an additional allocation of

0.04 per cent of total States taxes.

Decision:The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of providing an

additional allocation for the local bodies in the hill areas. However, as the quantum of

entitlement fund is not linked to the State’s own tax revenue, the additional allocation for

the hill areas cannot also be linked to the State’s own tax revenue. Instead, the proportion

of additional allocation in the entitlement fund will be maintained at the level

recommended by the Commission.

Recommendation 6.06: ZPs and PSs should apportion a part of ‘untied’ fund for villages

suffering from calamities and problems of inaccessibility.

Decision:The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission.

Necessary guidelines in this regard will be issued to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat

Samitis.

Recommendation 6.07: Arrangement for sharing of Entertainment Tax may continue to

be made by the State Government as at present. The commendation of First SFC in this

respect is modified to that extent.

Decision:The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission.

69

Recommendation 6.08: Legislation enabling the LSGs to collect taxes on urban land and

multi storied buildings needs to be made. Land revenue has been imposed in urban areas

including Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and the Land and Land Reforms

Department of the Government has been entrusted with collection of revenue of urban

land. The Government does not contemplate any change at this stage.

Decision: The State does not contemplate any separate tax on multi-storied buildings to

be made.

Recommendation 6.09: Powers to collect land revenue and cesses may be devolved to

the LSGs. LSGs would require to suitably strengthen their revenue collection machinery

for the purpose.

Decision:The Government does not contemplate any change in the existing system of

collection of land revenue and cess now.

Recommendation 6.10: Responsibility for collection of irrigation charges may be given

to the Panchayats and the revenue devolved to them.

Decision: This recommendation is being examined in consultation with the concerned

departments of the Government.

Recommendation 6.11: The State Government should ensure that recommendations of

the Central Valuation Board are implemented in all ULBs.

Decision: The recommendations of the Central Valuation Board have been implemented

in all ULBs except in Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal

Corporation. The Acts of these two Corporations provide for assessment of valuation of

holdings by their own assessment personnel.

Recommendation 6.12: Different rates and fees levied by the ULBs should be revised.

Decision: The process has started.

Recommendation 6.13: User charges and service charges should be levied by all ULBs.

Decision: The Acts have been amended to provide for imposition of user charges /

service charges to recover the operation costs of various services. Rules have been framed

for imposition of water charges which have been implemented by most of the ULBs over

the last two years. In these Rules the minimum charges have been prescribed and the

ULBs have been given the liberty to fix charges at higher rates subject to certain ceilings.

The West Bengal Municipal Act’ 93 has been amended to allow imposition of

70

conservancy charges on all types of holdings and such conservancy charges are being

imposed by many ULBs.

Recommendation 6.14: The State Government should pursue with Government of India

the EFC recommendation on impositions of service charge on Central Government

properties.

Decision: The State Government has been continuously pursuing the matter.

Recommendation 6.15: The State Government should consider making consolidated

payments directly to the ULBs through Municipal Affairs Department on account of

municipal tax on State Government properties.

Decision: The issue is under examination by the Government.

Recommendation 6.16: Besides augmenting resources by raising taxes and increasing

fees etc. on items listed in LSG Acts, the LSGs should exploit potential resources lying

unutilised like land, water bodies, livestock, trees etc. for generating both income and

employment for the people. The Government has accepted this recommendation of the

Commission. The LSGs will be advised accordingly.

Recommendation 6.17: The State Government may consider redefining the functional

responsibilities and review the areas of own resource mobilisation between the three tiers

of Panchayats, namely ZPs, PSs and GPs.

Decision: The Government has decided to act upon this recommendation of the

Commission.

Recommendation 6.18: Government should consider reconciliation of overlapping

responsibilities for planning and allocation of fund between DPC and regional

development boards in the rural and urban areas.

Decision: This recommendation will be considered in consultation with the concerned

departments of the Government. Where implementation of any recommendation of the

Commission as accepted by the

Government requires enactment of a law by the State Legislature, necessary action for

introduction of such legislation will be taken in due course.

Dated, Kolkata the 15th July, 2005 Sd/-

. Finance Minister

71

( C )

Action Taken Report (ATR) of Third State Finance Commission

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Actual implementation on the basis of Recommendations and ATRS: An Assessment by the Fourth SFC

Status of implementation of recommendations of first SFC

Sl. No.

Recommendations Observation of the Government as per ATR

Status of Implementation

1 7.02 Over the past decade, the proportion of plan expenditure for districts has increased and, with further decentralisation, this share will go up. A substantial part of this should be entitlements to local bodies in the form of untied funds and rest will continue to be grants.

This has been accepted by the Government.

Fund was devolved to Zilla Parishads only out of Budget Heads of different departments for implementation of schemes.

2. 7.03 Our proposal on modification of some grants to municipalities needs mentioning. In place of Entry Tax, surcharge on Sales Tax has been introduced. As promised, the State Government should distribute the fund to Municipalities as grants in the same manner as done so far with money from the Entry Tax. State Grants on parts of collection of Profession Tax and Motor vehicles Tax to LSGs may be discontinued.

Surcharge is a part of sales tax and sales tax including surcharge is to be taken into account for the determination of entitlements as per recommendation 7.07. As such distribution of surcharge on sales tax separately to the Municipalities is not necessary. The recommendation that State grants in lieu of collection of Professional Tax and as assignment of part of Motor Vehicles Tax to local bodies may be discontinued has been accepted by the Government.

This has been implemented

3 7.04 Since price rise are not within the control of the Municipalities, D.A subventions to them should cover whole of the D.A liability in respect of approved staff. Further, since various benefits to the staff have been introduced

The Government has accepted the recommendation in respect of approved staff subject to review in due course on receipt of the recommendations of the 4th

This has been implemented.

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at the instance of the State Government, it should cover such expenses with grants.

Pay Commission.

4. 7.05 A large number of Centrally sponsored Programmes such as JRY, IRDP, and ARWSP etc. are now in operation in which the Central releases have to be matched by proportionate State releases. Such State and Central releases would continue to be grants and will not be part of the untied entitlement of the local body concerned.

The Government has accepted the recommendation subject to the decisions that may be taken by the Government of India on the question of transfer of Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes to State Government.


5. 7.07 Entitlement will be financed by sharing of taxes. In lieu of sharing individual taxes, 16 per cent of the net proceeds of all tax collected by the State in a year should be transferred to local bodies. These will be untied funds at the disposal of the local bodies. Such funds may be released to districts in suitable instalments, quarterly or monthly.

The principle that entitlements of local bodies should be financed by sharing of taxes has been accepted by the Government. But this has to be related to recommendations 7.39 and 7.40 i.e. clear listing of the works under the State Plan Sector and district Plan Sector and district-wise segregation of departmental maintenance budget for which detailed exercise is being done in consultation with Administrative Departments.

This has not been implemented. Listing of works under District Plan and State Plan Sector has not been done as yet.

6. 7.08 Taxes on entertainments now collected by the State should be handed over to local bodies.

This is being examined. Instead of transferring, the State Government decided to share 90% of the collected amount to the Municipalities and the Panchayats in ratio 80:20. Actual release is less than the accepted ratio.

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7. 7.09 Urban Land Tax and Multi Storied Building Tax should be handed over to Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

This recommendation has been accepted by the Government.


8. 7.10 Collection of irrigation rates along with the related responsibility of water management and routine maintenance is handed over to concerned Zilla Parishads.


This has not been implemented.

9. 7.11 Resources generated in Regulated Markets should be brought within the purview of DPCs and the net proceeds ploughed back in the market hinterlands.


This has been implemented.

10. 7.12 The West Bengal Panchayat Act has empowered the three tiers of Panchayat to raise taxes, levies and tolls from a wide range of fields. These efforts should be stepped up.

The Government has accepted this recommendation in principle. The details are being worked out

No detail has been worked out till the time of drafting of this report.

11 7.13 Fiscal powers of LSGs have been set forth in various legislations, but further spread is necessary. Rules have to be framed and clarifications to be given in some cases.



12 7.14 Periodical assessment by the Central Valuation Board should be made mandatory and the CVB

The Government has accepted this recommendation in principle. The details are


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strengthened adequately for this purpose.

being worked out

13 7.15 The State should take up with the Union Government for timely payment of service charges for Union government properties.



14 7.16 Municipalities should be empowered to issue trade licences with fees at a much higher level; to impose tolls at higher rates for heavy vehicles on municipal roads; to levy imposts on tourists/pilgrims; to impose water tax on large users and commercial and industrial undertakings; to introduce special conservancy charges for commercial and industrial establishments.



15 7.17 There is a considerable scope for increasing non-tax revenues.



16 7.18 Voluntary Contributions have been a notable feature in the development activities of the Panchayats and this should be encouraged to garner more resources as well as to enhance people’s participation. Municipal Boards may also try to involve the people to improve urban facilities.



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17 7.19 Incentive Schemes have been suggested to encourage Panchayats and Municipalities to increase their own incomes. Two per cent of entitlement due to a district will be set aside to operate an Incentive Fund.



18 7.20 Transferring of a few hundred crores of rupees to districts as entitlements will inevitably affect the present organisational set up . Supervision of the departmental staff, remittances of Non-plan expenditure to districts and break-downs in the State budget will have a new look.

The Government has already accepted this approach in general. Details will be worked out in due course


19 7.21 Tax collection in the State should also adopt a new approach. The State Tax collecting officials will work in co-opeartion with LSG functionaries. The existing Decentralised Resource Mobilisation Scheme will no longer be necessary but the existing incentive scheme for Small Savings should continue.



20 7.22 District Planning Committee (DPC) has now been given a constitutional status. In this State, for nearly a decade , planning committees at the district level were functioning. But


It has not been implemented since the basic work of listing under State Plan Sector & District Plan Sector was not undertaken.

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the planning process needs to be much more comprehensive than hitherto. Also the proceeds should start from the GP level and move upwards with appropriate modifications at upper levels including the State Planning Board.

21 7.23 The three tiers of Panchayats and Municipalities will get money from three sources namely, own incomes including donations, entitlements and grants from the State and the Centre. The first two sources are untied and local bodies will be free to spend them according to their chosen priorities.



22 7.24 The projects formulated by GPs will be usually small and technically simple which may be executed with local expertise. Larger schemes will have to be vested by the PS.



23 7.25 Maintenance of assets created so far in blocks will be the prime responsibility of PSs. They will also have assigned responsibilities.



24 7.26 ZPs will have a The Government has No detail has been worked

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greater scope to create new assets and to concentrate on more complex types of maintenance. Besides, as the apex body in a district, it will have various co-ordinating responsibilities.

already accepted this approach in general. Details will be worked out in due course

out till the time of drafting of this report.

25 7.27 Maintenance and development in towns will be done by Municipal Authorities with the help, when necessary, from the ZP and the State.



26 7.28 A few districts have some inhabited areas which are outside the jurisdiction of Panchayat and Municipalities. These have been termed as Special Areas in this report. These will also be allotted funds in the proportion to their populations and the earmarked funds will be operated in consultation with the DPC.



27 7.29 There are Development Boards in a few districts besides the Panchayats. Funds for their operations will come from the State and not from the entitlements of local bodies.



28 7.30 The entitlements suggested in this Report do not depend on accretion of additional funds, but are only a redeployment of funds which are now being

The Government has accepted this recommendation.

Fund flow has not been commensurate with the accepted recommendation. (Details at chapters IV)

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spent in the districts. Instead of basing the distribution on population sizes only a few factors indicating backwardness have also been taken into , so that backward localities may get proportionately more money. The selection of indicators depended on the availability of reliable data. The entitlements in the Tables have been given in percentages.

29 7.31 For distribution between districts the factors taken were population, level of non-literacy, proportion of backward population, area of district, proportion of rural population and inverse ratio of per capita bank deposits and of working capital of Primary Agricultural Co-operatives taken together.



30 7.32 Within a district, its allocation should be divided between Panchayats , Municipalities and Special areas on the basis of respective total populations.



31 7.33 The distribution between Municipalities has been based on factors: population, level of non-literacy, proportion of SC/ST population and population density.



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32 7.34 Of the total entitlements going to Panchayats the proportional allocations between three tiers are: ZP 30 per cent, all PS together 20 per cent, all GPs together 50 per cent.



33 7.35 The distribution between GPs has been made on the basis of population, level of non-literacy and proportion of SC/ST population.

The Government has accepted this recommendation


34 7.36 The distribution between PSs has been based on the same three factors as in case of GPs.


No comments necessary

35 7.37 Due to the special constitutional status of DGHC , the Commission has not earmarked its entitlements further amongst Municipalities , Panchayats etc. For Siliguri sub-division, the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad has been playing the role of of the ZP and has been treated accordingly.


No comments necessary

36 7.38 The Tenth Finance Commission has recommended certain grants for the local bodies of the State over and above devolution recommended by the State Finance Commission. Such


No action taken on this recommendation

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additionalities should flow to the districts so as to be available for use of local bodies.

37 7.39 Works under the State plan sector and District plan sector should be clearly listed by the State Government.

These have already been dealt with.

Not yet done

38 7.40 Departmental maintenance budget should be disaggregated districtwise and communicated to the districts. DPCs should be involved in supervising maintenance works.

These have already been dealt with.

Not yet done

39 7.41 In the proposed new set up , the burden of work of Sabhadhipati , Sahakari Sabhadhipati and Executive Officer will increase considerably . Sharing of work with Chairpersons of Standing Committees will be essential. Similar distribution of work in lower rungs will also be necessary. Co-operation of departmental staff will also have to be mobilised.

The Government will take a view, as recommended, while undertaking the exercise for implementation of recommendations 7.39 and 7.40.


40 7.42 Block level staff of different departments has already been placed under concerned PSs. However, some confusion is still

The Government will take a view, as recommended, while undertaking the exercise for implementation of


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prevailing over deployment of such staff and this should be resolved immediately.

recommendations 7.39 and 7.40.

41 7.43 The question of regularising excess staff in Municipalities was examined according to certain norms by the Second Municipal Finance Commission. The State Government should examine the recommendations and take a final view.

These will be considered in due course.

This has not been considered.

42 7.44 Auditing of Incomes and expenditure is a must for healthy running of local bodies. Suitable and adequate number of persons from existing employees in the District should be selected for the job who will be fully engaged in this work. No additional recruitment should be necessary.


No separate Audit wing was considered apart from existing Audit mechanism.

43 7.45 There should be some effective penal provisions for local bodies not falling in line with financial discipline. Penal measures are also to be introduced for those Municipalities which divert development grants to meet revenue expenditure.


No such penal measure implemented

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44 7.46 A new Standing Committee (Sthayee Samiti) may be created in each ZP to help develop favourable milieu for small- scale and large industrial units.


No such standing Committee created.

Status of implementation of recommendations of Second SFC

Sl. No.



1 Recommendation 6.01 : The Second SFC endorses the basic framework of First SFC allocation structure including the recommendations of 16 per cent of State taxes as entitlement fund. We further recommend that the detailed LSG unit wise entitlement should be included in a supplement to the Budget.

The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of providing an entitlement fund for the rural and Urban Local Bodies. However, instead of linking the quantum of the entitlement fund with the State’s own tax revenue, the Government has decided to allocate the maximum amount possible out of its resources, having regard to the demands thereon for meeting committed liabilities including the committed liabilities in respect of rural and Urban Local Bodies and the expenditure on account of essential State Level programmes as well as the State’s share of national level programmes being implemented by the State.

Devolution of only 50% of recommended grant of Rupees seven hundred crore for the first time for the year 2005-06 can hardly be termed as acceptance of the recommendation.

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2 Recommendation 6.02 : We recommend that a minimum amount of Rs. 700 crore should be provided in the budget for devolution to LSGs as ‘untied’ entitlement. We further recommend that the detailed LSG unit wise entitlement should be included in a supplement to the Budget

The State Government has provided an amount of Rs. 350 crore in the budget of the year 2005-06 as ‘untied’ entitlement of the rural and the Urban Local Bodies. The State Government will make every effort to ensure that the devolution of fund to the local bodies is maintained at least at this level.

Such stand was taken only in the year 2005-06 i.e. after three years of submission of the report. The actual release was Rs.341.46 crore for Rural and Urban Local bodies. Same budget was repeated up to 2008-09. Actual release for 2005-06 and 2006-07 was only 3.29% and 1.69 % of State’s own tax revenue.

3 Recommendation 6.03 : We recommend sub-allocation of District Panchayat Fund as 60, 20 & 20 per cent respectively for GPs, PSs & ZPs.

The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission.

The ratio of allocation was maintained

4 Recommendation 6.04 : Two percent of 16 per cent of State tax collection, ie.0.32 per cent be earmarked for a State level incentive fund.

The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of earmarking a certain portion of the entitlement fund for a State level incentive fund. However, as the quantum of entitlement fund is not linked to the State’s own tax revenue, the quantum of incentive fund cannot also be linked to the State’s own tax revenue. Instead, the proportion of incentive fund in the Entitlement fund will be maintained at the level recommended by the Commission.


5 Recommendation 6.05 : LSGs in hill areas should be given an additional allocation of 0.04 per cent of total States taxes.

The Government has accepted the basic recommendation of providing an additional allocation for the local bodies in the hill areas. However, as the quantum

This has not been implemented.

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of entitlement fund is not linked to the State’s own tax revenue, the additional allocation for the hill areas cannot also be linked to the State’s own tax revenue. Instead, the proportion of additional allocation in the entitlement fund will be maintained at the level recommended by the Commission.

6 Recommendation 6.06: ZPs and PSs should apportion a part of ‘untied’ fund for villages suffering from calamities and problems of inaccessibility

The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission. Necessary guidelines in this regard will be issued to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis.

No guideline issued as such

7 Recommendation 6.07: Arrangement for sharing of Entertainment Tax may continue to be made by the State Government as at present. The commendation of First SFC in this respect is modified to that extent.

The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission


8 Recommendation 6.08: Legislation enabling the LSGs to collect taxes on urban land and multi storied buildings needs to be made.

Land revenue has been imposed in urban areas including Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and the Land and Land Reforms Department of the Government has been entrusted with collection of revenue of urban land. The Government does not contemplate any change at this stage. The State does not contemplate any separate tax on multi-storied buildings to be

No question of implementation

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made. 9 Recommendation 6.09:

Powers to collect land revenue and cesses may be devolved to the LSGs. LSGs would require to suitably strengthen their revenue collection machinery for the purpose.

The Government does not contemplate any change in the existing system of collection of land revenue and cess now.

No question of implementation

10 Recommendation 6.10: Responsibility for collection of irrigation charges may be given to the Panchayats and the revenue devolved to them.

This recommendation is being examined in consultation with the concerned departments of the Government.

Not yet implemented

11 Recommendation 6.11: The State Government should ensure that recommendations of the Central Valuation Board are implemented in all ULBs.

The recommendations of the Central Valuation Board have been implemented in all ULBs except in Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation. The Acts of these two Corporations provide for assessment of valuation of holdings by their own assessment personnel.

Despite prescription at the state level no uniform pattern is followed by the ULBs

12 Recommendation 6.12: Different rates and fees levied by the ULBs should be revised.

The process has started. No uniform pattern is followed

13 Recommendation 6.13: User charges and service charges should be levied by all ULBs.

The Acts have been amended to provide for imposition of user charges / service charges to recover the operation costs of various services. Rules have been framed for imposition of water charges which have been implemented by most of the ULBs over the last two years. In these Rules the minimum charges have been

Despite prescription at the state level no uniform pattern is followed by the ULBs

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prescribed and the ULBs have been given the liberty to fix charges at higher rates subject to certain ceilings. The West Bengal Municipal Act’ 93 has been amended to allow imposition of conservancy charge on all types of holdings and such conservancy charges are being imposed by many ULBs

14 Recommendation 6.14: The State Government should pursue with Government of India the EFC recommendation on impositions of service charge on Central Government properties.

The State Government has been continuously pursuing the matter.

Huge service charge is pending against Central Government properties

15 Recommendation 6.15: The State Government should consider making consolidated payments directly to the ULBs through Municipal Affairs Department on account of municipal tax on State Government properties.

The issue is under examination by the Government.

Not yet implemented

16 Recommendation 6.16: Besides augmenting resources by raising taxes and increasing fees etc. on items listed in LSG Acts, the LSGs should exploit potential resources lying unutilised like land, water bodies, livestock, trees etc. for generating both income and employment for the people.

The Government has accepted this recommendation of the Commission. The LSGs will be advised accordingly.

No effective implementation as yet

17 Recommendation 6.17: The State Government may consider redefining the

The Government has decided to act upon this recommendation of the

Only an activity mapping has been done but not incorporated in the Statute.

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functional responsibilities and review the areas of own resource mobilisation between the three tiers of Panchayats, namely ZPs, PSs and GPs.

Commission. Areas of inter tier own resource mobilisation has not been defined.

18 Recommendation 6.18: Government should consider reconciliation of overlapping responsibilities for planning and allocation of fund between DPC and regional development boards in the rural and urban areas.

This recommendation will be considered in consultation with the concerned departments of the Government.

This has not been implemented

Status of implementation of recommendations of third SFC

Sl.No.

Recommendation Observation of the Government as per ATR


1. 8.1 The 3rd State Finance Commission feels that the basic components of devolution of powers and resources to the LSG units (urban and rural) should be treated as a composite whole. Transfers of functions, functionaries and funds to the LSG units are complimentary in nature. The Commission recommends that the State Government should take effective measures of devolution in accordance with the provisions made in the Constitution. Devolution of functionaries and funds concomitant to the functions devolved should follow. Effective decentralization of

Devolution of functions and resources commensurate with these functions is a very important aspect to enable the Local Government Institutions to function as Third-tier of Governance, as envisaged by the Constitution, rather than as mere implementing agencies of certain schemes. The State Government totally agrees with the recommendation that such devolution of powers for grass-root planning for economic development, is a pre-condition for effective decentralisation.

Despite its agreement in principle no effective devolution excepting an activity mapping through executive order has taken place.

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powers including grassroots level planning for economic development is a pre-condition for such a devolution process to be fruitful. (Paras 1.11, 3.1 - 3.21, 4.17 - 4.19)

2 8.2 The Commission recommends immediate devolution of functions in respect of certain basic and core services mentioned in the Report to start with, if the State Government finds it difficult to devolve all the functions mentioned in Schedule XI and Schedule XII to the LSGs at a time. (Paras 3.12 & 4.18)

The State Government accepts the recommendation. Article 243 G of the Constitution has empowered the Legislature of a state to endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary for them to function as institutions of Self-Government with provisions of devolution of powers and responsibilities upon the appropriate tier of Panchayats for preparation of plans for economic development and securing social justice and implementation of schemes as may be entrusted to them including those subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule. The State Council of Ministers in its meeting held on 10th May 1999 resolved to transfer the subjects covered under the Eleventh Schedule to the Three tier Panchayats. The functional status has been further clarified by working out a department wise detailed Activity Mapping, which has been approved by the cabinet.

Activity mapping has been done through executive order..

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Matching orders from eleven out of seventeen line departments, covered under the said activity mapping, have so far been issued. So far four Departments have opened Panchayat Window in their budget to allocate fund to the PRIs for implementing devolved activities. For the Urban Local Bodies all the items mentioned in the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution except Fire Services (Item no. 7) have been handed over to the Municipalities/ Municipal Corporations. The Urban Local Bodies have been preparing five-year perspective plans on the basis of Ward-level plans, prepared after thorough interaction with Stakeholders.

3 8.3 The Commission feels the need for radically improving revenue collection efforts by the PRIs, especially the GPs. The Commission is strongly of the view that improvement of the own resource mobilization is crucial for autonomy and proper decentralization desired. The Commission feels that building up of a proper database and designing a clear structure of the taxes at the GP level are prime requirements. The State Government

A database for tax and non-tax revenue of all 3-tier of PR bodies has been developed and data for own revenue available since 2005-06. For building up a clear tax structure at GP level, the West Bengal Panchayat (Gram Panchayat Administration) Rules 2004 has been amended in 2006. The recommendation is accepted.

The revenue collection of some of the Gram Panchayats have comparatively improved.

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should issue necessary guidelines to enable the PRIs for taking steps in this direction and should also provide for specialized tax collection staff to the GPs and the other PRI bodies. (Paras 3.52 & 3.54)

4 8.4 The Commission feels that there is considerable scope for augmentation of the resources of the PRIs by proper management of assets owned by and/or transferred to such bodies (Para 3.12)

For augmentation of the resources of the PRIs by proper management of assets owned by and/or transferred to such bodies as recommended by the 3rd SFC, inventory of assets is required to be prepared by the PRIs, especially by ZPs and PSs and for this purpose those PRIs may be advised to do so with the help of skilled persons. Expenditure for hiring skilled personnel may be met up from untied fund of 3rd SFC. The recommendation is accepted.

Excepting few ,no such inventory is available in PRI bodies

5. 8.5 The Commission is aware that the major component of development funds for the LSGs would be provided for by the funds transferred by way of devolution of schemes and projects from above (central and State) by the State. The need for ‘untied’ fund entitlement would, therefore, be limited to filling up of critical gaps and resources for implementation of local programmes not covered by schemes and projects designed and transferred from above. The same

The State Government will enhance the annual untied entitlement from RS. 350 Crore to Rs. 800 Cr from 2009-10. The State Government will make every effort to ensure a progressive increase of the untied fund allocation at the minimum rate of 12% p.a on a cumulative basis for the subsequent years. The recommendation is accepted.

Actual devolution and annual enhancement is much less than that accepted in the ATR.

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should include resources necessary for maintenance of assets owned by / transferred to them. The Commission therefore, recommends for an ‘untied’ fund allocation to the tune of Rs.800 crore constituting around 5% of the State’s own net tax revenue for the year 2008-09. The Commission recommends a progressive increase of the ‘untied’ fund allocation at the minimum rate of 12% p.a. on a cumulative basis for the subsequent four financial years. 20% of ‘untied’ fund may be utilised for maintenance of assets by the LSGs (Paras 1.11, 4.56, 5.31)

6. 8.6 The Commission recommends that the total ‘untied’ fund allocation at the State level should be split into two segments-ULBs and PRIs. The respective population ratios are approximately 24:76. The Commission is aware that there is a small segment of the State’s population (2,29,970) accounted for by special areas falling outside any urban or rural LSGs (cantonments, railway townships, etc). The Commission kept these segments of population outside the purview of its devolution exercises as these bodies do not come under any kind of LSG administration. (Para 7.5)

The Government accepts the recommendation. The recommendation of splitting of untied funds into two segments, ULBs and PRIs in proportion to their respective population, i.e 24:76 is accepted.

This share is not followed in all cases.

7. 8.7 The Commission The Government accepts This share is not

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recommends the formula of 12:18:70 for inter-tier allocation of ‘untied’ fund within the PRI bodies. In other words, all ZPs taken together would be allotted 12%, all PSs taken together 18% and all GPs taken together 70% of the total ‘untied’ fund earmarked for the PRI bodies. The addition in weightage in favour of the GPs is based on the experiences gathered in respect to PRI functions in the State so far. The GPs being the LSG bodies directly responsible for meeting people’s needs and aspirations would naturally require larger shares of the resources for meeting the same. (Para 7.7)

the recommendation. followed in all cases.

8. 8.8 The Commission is in favour of continuing with the idea of an ‘incentive fund’ of 2% of the total ‘untied’ fund kitty of the State for each year. Similar to earlier dispensations this fund should be kept at the disposal of the two departments: (i) Panchayat and Rural Development (76%) (ii) Municipal Affairs Department (24%) These funds should be used for encouraging the LSGs in their efforts to improve their own resource mobilization and participatory governance. (Para 7.4)

The Government accepts the recommendations.

This has been implemented depending upon the actual release of grant.

9. 8.9 The Commission The Government accepts This has not been fully

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recommends an allocation of 0.726% of the total ‘untied’ fund of the State as entitlement to the Hill area PRIs. The same fund should be allocated as soon as the Panchayats in the existing DGHC areas are made functional. (Para 7.6)

the recommendation. implemented since no PRI is constituted in Hill areas for a long period of time

10. 8.10 The Commission recommends that the State budget in the coming years should clearly indicate the funds allocated for LSGs (urban and rural). A special Annexure for the purpose may suitably be appended to the Annual budget of the State. (Para 5.32)

The recommendation is accepted in principle. It requires further interaction with different departments so that a LSG window is opened in the State Budget every Department which has assigned any responsibility to the LSGs.

This has not been implemented

11 8.11 The Commission recommends that the following taxes and rates be transferred to the PRIs with effect from the financial year 2010-11: (i) Entertainment tax; (ii) Profession tax; (iii) Land Revenue; (iv) Royalties on minor minerals (v) Collection of Irrigation rates. The first two taxes mentioned above should also be assigned to ULBs The State Government may, however, lay down some guidelines for the LSGs in respect to floor and ceiling rates. (Paras 3.56, 3.59, 4.62 & 4.63)

The power of the local self-government to levy and collect taxes under more heads would be dependent upon the capability and collection efficiencies so that the revenue is not lost on this account. Hence the issue of empowering the local self-government to levy more taxes requires to be thoroughly examined and decided based on their capabilities.

Responsibility of collection of these taxes continues to be with the State Government. After retaining collection cost amount is shared with RLBs and ULBs in respect of Entertainment and Profession Tax.

12 8.12 Properly motivated and trained functionaries for all the three tiers of Panchayats

The recommendation is accepted.

Panchayats and Rural Development Department took

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are absolutely necessary for efficient functioning of the Panchayati Raj. The State Government may therefore, take necessary actions for placement of functionaries, particularly, technical and accounts knowing personnel for the PRIs. The posts now lying vacant in the district offices, particularly, PRI bodies may be converted into the posts of Block and District Panchayat Cadres and then filled up by the respective local bodies. For capacity building, there should be Training Institutes in all districts for training to all associated with the LSGs and continuous upgrading. (Paras 3.66, 3.67, 3.69, 3.70, 3.78)

A number of training programmes are being undertaken both for Panchayati Raj Institutions and ULBs for the elected representatives as well as officials. The training capability will further be strengthened.

initiative during 2003 to 2010 create some additional posts for Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad. Initiative was also taken to build up Training Institutes at the District level to decentralise the training mechanism. However, adequate infrastructure for these Training Institutes have not been provided as yet.

13 8.13 The Commission feels that proper devolution with clear delineation of functions and activities of LSGs at different tiers may need some amendments, modifications and addition to the provisions of the existing Panchayat Act (1994), and amendment/ repeal of the provisions of some other relevant Acts. The Commission urges the State Government to initiate processes for enactment of suitable and enabling legislative provisions for a proper and well delineated devolution of powers and functions to the LSGs. (Para 3.59)

In terms of Article 243 G of the Constitution of India, every Panchayat has been recognised as an institute of self-government with power and authority to prepare plans for economic development and social justice and implement them. In the perspective of such constitutional mandate, Panchayat bodies can no longer be treated as mere agencies of the State Government to execute its plan and programmes. They have to be perceived as the Government at the third stratum with a clear functional domain of their own. If such an exclusive functional domain for the Panchayats is carved out in

The State Government in the department of Panchayats and Rural Development is reported to have constituted a committee to revise the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 only in the year 2013.

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conformity with the spirit of the constitution, then many State or Central Laws on different subjects now under operation in the state will have to be amended for several reasons. It requires in-depth analysis of the Acts by the Departments concerned and wider consultation before making any amendment. There will also be need for amending the West Bengal Panchayat Act appropriately.

14 8.14 The 74th Amendment of the Constitution of India provides for the constitution of a District Planning Committee (DPC) as a tool for local planning to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipal bodies in the district and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole. The Commission has gone deep into the issue in course of its review. The Commission recommends urgent rejuvenation of the DPCs. (Paras 1.16, 6.17 – 6.20)

The Government accepts the recommendation. The District Planning Committees are already functioning in the state. However, revamping the DPCs would be considered as may be required.

No fruitful step appears to have been taken to revitalise the DPC.

15. 8.15 To ensure proper accountability of the LSGs, the Commission recommends speeding up of the double entry system of book-keeping and accounting. The authority responsible for auditing the accounts should be

The recommendation is accepted. New rule for maintaining Double entry system of accounts for the ZP and PS has been introduced from the financial year 2003-04 and that for the GP has

Panchayats in all its tier are in the process of recording their accounts in double-entry system. ULBs, have adopted double entry system of late, but needs close monitoring with more trained staff.

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independent of the units whose accounts are being audited. The Commission requests the State Government to review the position and strengthen the infrastructure and procedure of grassroots level accountability. ( Para 5.41)

been introduced from the financial year 2008-09. With introduction of Double Entry Accounting System it has been easier to track fund received from the different sources and to exercise necessary budgetary control. In respect of the ULBs, the process of switching over to the accrual based Double entry accounting system has already been taken up. It has already been completed and introduced in all the 41 ULBs within KMA and is expected to be implemented in the remaining ULBs by 2009-10.

16 8.16 The Commission concurs with the observation of the ELA in respect to the growing role and importance of social audit, accompanied by the Right to Information of the people constituting the citizenry of the relevant unit. ( Para 5.42)

The Government accepts the recommendation. A system of Social Audit has already been built where the Gram Panchayat places the annual plan, budget, half yearly and annual income and expenditure statement and the audit reports and action taken reports following internal audit as also annual audit by the Examiner of Local Accounts, in the meeting of the Gram Sansad and the Gram Sabha for scrutiny, debate and recommendation. The West Bengal Municipal Act now mandates the ULBs to

Gram Sansad, Gram Sabha and Ward Committees need to be strengthened to make the social audit really effective.

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publish the audited accounts on six monthly basis. Citizen’s Charters have also been introduced in the ULBs.

17 8.17 There is apparent laxity on the part of the ULBs to collect Property Tax especially arrear Property Taxes. A more concerted effort is required on the part of the ULBs to collect outstanding Property Taxes. ( Para 4.28)

The Government accepts the recommendation. Emphasis is being given on the ULBs for improving their collection of Property Tax.

No effective step appears to have been taken by the ULBs to collect the arrear property tax which is also reflected in the successive audit reports of the Examiner of Local Accounts.

18 8.18 Instead of Rental Method of Valuation and Land and Building Method of Valuation, ‘Unit Area’ method or ‘Capital Value’ method should be introduced in all the ULBs of the State. A periodic physical verification of the properties and taxes levied on them should be carried out in each ULB by a separate wing directly under the control of the Chief Executive Officer of the concerned ULB. (Paras 4.38 & 4.39)

For Kolkata Municipal Corporation action has been initiated to introduce the Unit-Area based Property Tax Collection. Based on the experience in KMC, the issue of introduction of this system to other ULBs can be considered subsequently. For the ULBs, the West Bengal Valuation Board is presently taking up valuation of properties.

ULBs, apart from KMC, do not appear to have taken any effective step in this regard.

19 8.19 Geographical Information System should be introduced in all the ULBs as early as possible. ( Para 4.41)

The recommendation is accepted Further action is being taken in the matter. Already it has been introduced in 72 ULBs

Excepting some of the ULBs, others are lagging far behind of this initiative.

20 8.20 A provision may be incorporated in West Bengal Municipal Act and other relevant Acts enabling the ULBs to collect at least Service Charges from the occupiers of unauthorized constructions. While doing

The recommendation will be further examined from the Legal perspective.

No such attempt appears to have taken.

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so, it should be made clear that collection of Service Charges shall in no way be construed as regularization of such unauthorized construction. (Para 4.42)

21 8.21 Arrear Property Tax due from the State Government departments should be deducted from the budgetary provisions and placed with the Municipal Affairs Department for passing on the same to the respective ULBs. Similar procedure should also be adopted in respect of properties owned by the State Public Sector Undertakings (SPSUs). Finance Department may release the fund on the basis of Audit Reports of individual ULBs, preferably, in one instalment. In case of current demands, ULBs may raise the same and send to the Municipal Affairs Department who, in turn, will forward the same to the Finance Department for release of fund for payment of Property Tax. ( Para 4.44)

The recommendation requires interaction with the Departments.

No fruitful action appears to have been taken in this regard.

22 8.22 Legal opinion may be obtained in respect of a ruling of the Hon’ble Supreme Court regarding payment of Service Charges from the Government of India departments and if the legal opinion is in favour of collecting such Service Charges, the ULBs may be advised accordingly. This

The recommendation is accepted. The matter shall be pursued further

The State Government is reported to have taken up the matter with the Government of India but no fruitful action seems to have been carried into effect.

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may also be taken up with the Government of India on an urgent basis. ( Para 4.45 )

23 8.23 ULBs should be empowered to issue Trade Licenses of Shops and Establishment in the shopping mall at a higher rate. There should not be any ceiling on Trade License fees. ( Para 4.48 )

The recommendation is agreed in principle. The existing provision shall be further examined in detail to facilitate the process with adequate safeguards.

ULBs are still not in the process to act upon this recommendation.

24 8.24 Suitable Rules should be framed immediately empowering the ULBs to collect NonTax Revenue on all the items mentioned in the Act. ( Para 4.48)

The recommendation is agreed in principle. The existing provisions shall be further examined in detail to facilitate the process with adequate safeguards.


25 8.25 ULBs should be allowed to impose tolls at a higher rate for heavy trucks for use of Municipal roads and levy imposts on tourists / pilgrims. ( Para 4.49)

The recommendation requires further examination.


26 8.26 Ferries which come within the purview of section 132 of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993, should be returned to the concerned ULBs immediately. (Para 4.50)

This will be examined No fruitful action appears to have been taken in this regard.

27 8.27 Water rates should be introduced on the basis of consumption in all the ULBs ( Para 4.51

The recommendation is accepted. Already water charges are being levied in 76 ULBs out of 127 ULBs, the introduction of water charges will be considered after proper water supply system is developed in these ULBs. While levying the charges, the interests of the urban poor shall be

Although some of the ULBs initially introduced collection of water charges but have discontinued subsequently.

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safeguarded. 28 8.28 ULBs should be

allowed to impose annual fees from the service providers like Power utilities, Telephone companies (both Land line and Mobile), Cable T.V. companies using the Municipal properties and the ULBs should also be given the flexibility to decide on their own rates of levies for such services. ( Para 4.64)

The legality of the recommendation will be examined in detail

Some of the ULBs are in the process.

29 8.29 All the ULBs should be asked to introduce door-to-door garbage collection system and impose necessary fees for the same. ( Para 4.65)

Solid Waste Management has been given due emphasis which includes door-to-door collection and proper garbage collection system of the solid waste in a scientific manner. This has already been introduced in most of the ULBs in a phased manner.

Some of the ULBs are in the process.

30 8.30 ULBs should be given a share of the proceeds from sale/lease of lands within their respective jurisdiction owned by parastatal agencies and State and Central Governments. ( Para 4.66)

It requires further examination.


31 8.31 Impact Fees should be introduced on shopping mall, multiplexes and residential-cumshopping complexes immediately. The process may start with the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. ( Para 4.67)

It requires further examination


32 8.32 State Government should take full responsibilities for payment of pension and other

It requires further examination.


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retirement benefits to the retired employees of the ULBs as has been done in case of retired employees of the PRIs. However, if the State Government finds it difficult to take such responsibilities, ULBs should be asked to utilize the amount received on account of arrear Property Tax from the State Government departments and SPSUs as well as on account of Service Charges received from Government of India departments and CPSUs to create a Pension Fund. In case the total pensionary liability of an ULB is not fully met by the aforementioned funds then a one-time special fund may be granted to such ULBs. The pension fund thus created should be supplemented by yearly accretion of current Property Taxes and service charges. ( Paras.4.71& 4.72)

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Appendix VIII

Government Memorandum regarding devolution of the proceeds of Entertainment Tax to Urban & Local Bodies in the State of West Bengal and other relevant Government Orders.

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL FINANCE (TAXATION) DEPARTMENT

No. 253-F.T. Dated, Calcutta, the 31st January, 2000

MEMORANDUM

Subject: - Devolution of the proceeds of Entertainment Tax to Urban & Local Bodies in the

State of West Bengal.

The undersigned is directed to say that the State Finance Commission in its report

submitted to the State Government in the year 1995 recommended inter-alia that taxes on

entertainments now collected by the State Government should be handed over to Local Self

Government Authorities (para 2.09 & 2.42). The recommendation of the commission was

under active consideration of the State Government for sometime past.

(1) After careful consideration by the Government, the undersigned is directed by order of the

Governor to say that the Governor is pleased to order that 90 (ninety) percent of the net yield

of the State Entertainment Tax as collected under (i) The Bengal Amusements Tax Act ,

1922, (ii) The West Bengal Entertainment and Luxuries (Hotels & Restaurants ) Tax Act

,1972 and (iii) The West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982 shall be

passed on to the local Bodies in the manner set out in the following paragraphs after retaining

10 percent by the State Government for covering Administrative, Legal and other costs

associated with Collection of the aforesaid tax.

(2) Total allocable amount i.e. 90% of the net yield will be divided in the ratio of 80:20 for

Municipal areas (which may be called Municipal Fund) and Panchayat areas (which may be

called Panchayat Fund).

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(i) The distribution of the Municipal fund among different Municipal will be made in

accordance with the recommendations made under para 6.22 to 6.25 of the Report of the

State Finance Commission.

(ii) The distribution of the Panchayat Fund amongst the Panchayat Bodies shall be made in

accordance with the recommendations under para 6.26 & 6.27 of the Report of the State

Finance Commission.

(3) Fund will be released on quarterly basis. For the first three quarters, the devolution will be

based on the Budget Estimate, while releasing fund for the fourth quarter, the revised

estimate will be taken into account. Necessary adjustment will be made from the entitlement

of the next year after actuals of the previous year are received from the Account General

West Bengal.

(4) The Scheme of devolution of the proceeds of Entertainment Tax to Urban & Local Bodies

in the State shall be deemed to have come into effect on the 1st day of April, 1999.

(5) The existing Scheme of distribution of Entertainment Tax to the Corporation/

Municipality etc. as initiated in G.O No. 3275-F.T, Dated 29.9.86 shall be deemed to have

been discontinued with effect from 1.4.1999.

SD /-N. Barman Roy. Officer-on –Special Duty & Ex-Officio

Deputy Secretary to the Government of West Bengal.

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Government of West Bengal Department of Panchayats and Rural Development

Jessop Building (1st Floor), 63, N. S. Road Kolkata – 700 001

No. 6102/PN/O/V/4P-1/05 Date: 07. 11. 2005

O R D E R

WHEREAS Article 243G of the Constitution of India has empowered the

Legislature of a State to endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be

necessary to enable them to function as institutions of Self-Government with provisions of

devolution of powers and responsibilities upon the appropriate tier of Panchayats for

preparation of plans for economic development and securing social justice and

implementation of schemes as may be entrusted to them including those in relation to the

matter listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution of India ;

AND WHEREAS Section 207B has been inserted in the West Bengal Panchayat

Act, 1973 (West Bengal Act XLI of 1973) by Section 50 of the West Bengal Panchayat

(Amendment) Act, 1994 (West Ben. Act XVIII of 1994) ;

AND WHEREAS under sub-section (1) of Section 207 B of the said Act the State

Government may, by order, transfer, under such terms and conditions as may be specified,

to Panchayats such powers, functions and duties as are exercised, performed and discharged

by the State Government under any law made by the State Legislature or otherwise under

the executive powers of the State ;

AND WHEREAS there is a need for assigning activities to each tier of the

Panchayats following the principle of subsidiary so that any activity which may be

performed at a lower tier should be attributed to that tier only without giving any scope for

overlapping of responsibilities within various tiers of the Panchayats ;

AND WHEREAS the State Council of Ministers in their meeting held on the 27th

September, 2005 have assigned responsibilities upon three tier Panchayati Raj Institutions

as shown in the enclosed Table, delineating their activities in respect of the subjects covered

under the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution ;

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NOW, in exercise of the power conferred by the provisions of sub-section (1) of

section 207 B of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 (West Bengal Act XLI of 1973), as

subsequently amended from time to time, the Governor is pleased hereby to assign such

functions and activities to the appropriate tier of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as shown in

the enclosed Table with authorities for planning, budgeting and implementing schemes and

taking other possible measures for economic development and social justice in rural areas

related to those activities.

The Governor is further pleased to order that the concerned Departments will issue

appropriate Government orders to that effect, in consultation with the Panchayats and Rural

Development Department, if necessary, which should be backed by the appropriate

Legislation of the Department concerned, wherever necessary. This may necessitate

passing on the requisite amount of fund to the Panchayats as also appropriately instructing

the officials of the respective Departments posted at District, Block and Gram level for

making their services available to the Panchayats for utilization in the execution of the

schemes of the respective Departments now being assigned to Panchayati Raj Bodies. The

respective Departments may also work out suitable capacity building programme for

Panchayat functionaries for discharging the assigned responsibilities and duties effectively.

The concerned officials may also be given suitable ex-officio designation signifying their

association with the Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti or Gram Panchayat, as the case may

be.

This order will come into force with immediate effect.

By Order of the Governor, Sd/- A. K. Deb

Chief Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal No. 6102/PN/O/V/4P-1/05 Date: 07. 11. 2005

Copy forwarded for information and necessary action to the:

1) Private Secretary to MIC / MOS,................................................................(All)

1) Sabhadhipati of ................................................... Zilla Parishad (All).

3) Principal Secretary / Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal ......................

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................................................................................................Department (All).

4) Commissioner of Presidency / Burdwan / Jalpaiguri Division (All).

5) Commissioner of Panchayats and Rural Development, West Bengal.

6) Director of SIPRD, Kalyani, Gandhi Bhavan, Dist. Nadia.

7) District Magistrate of................................................................................ (All).

8) Addl. Executive Officer of..................................................Zilla Parishad (All).

9) District Panchayat & Rural Dev. Officer of ...................................................(All). Copy of this order shall be circulated to the functionaries / officials of Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats within the district.

10) All Cells of this Department.

(M. N. Roy)

Secretary to the Government of West Bengal

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ASSIGNMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES ON THREE TIER PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS

AND

MAPPING OF ACTIVITIES OF P.R.BODIES

ITEM: 1 – Agriculture and Extension Works:

Function Activity Responsibility of Standing Committees of three-tier PRIs

Krishi Sech O Samabaya Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Principal Agricultural Officer

Krishi Sech O Samabaya Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Agriculture Development Officer

Krishi O Prani Sampad Bikash Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Officer – Krishi Prajukti Sahayak

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Beneficiary Selection for different Programs

§ Identification and selection of farmers

§ Awareness campaign and wide publicity among farmers

In consultation with the Sthayee Samiti the Principal Agricultural Officer will -

§ fix up target for each Panchayat Samiti for selection of beneficiaries

§ fix up target for holding awareness camp and campaign and monitor and supervise the same, if necessary

§ involve the Sub-divisional Agricultural Officer and Specialist Officers in the campaign, if necessary

§ initiate Block wise awareness campaign at the beginning of each crop season

In consultation with the Sthayee Samiti the Agriculture Development Officer will -

§ fix up target for each Gram Panchayat for selection of beneficiaries

§ fix up target for holding awareness camp and campaign and monitor and supervise the same, if necessary

§ Facilitate the Sthayee Samiti members about the strategy to augment agricultural production at the beginning of each crop season

In consultation with the Upa-Samiti the Krishi Prajukti Sahayak will –

§ select or nominate beneficiaries

§ select or nominate beneficiaries in consultation with the Agriculture Development Officer after expiry of the time limit

§ Organize awareness camp in consultation with ADO / SAO

§ facilitate the members of Upa-Samiti about the strategy to augment agricultural production

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Capacity Building & Extension Work

§ Identification of training need of farmers

§ Chalking out Block wise training program

§ Training for skill development and Field demonstration

§ Information dissemination and motivation of farmers


§ identify the training need

§ prepare action plan for enhancing skill and field demonstration and execute the same

§ prepare action plan for information dissemination and motivation of farmers and execute the same


§ select venue and faculty

§ supervise and monitor training

§ collect from all Gram Panchayats Agricultural data and forward to the District Office for future use in training and skill upgradation


§ identify and select farmers

§ organize awareness camp and field demonstration

§ send all agriculture related data and special need or necessities to the ADO

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Distribution of Inputs

§ distribution of minikit / seed

§ Promotion of use of organic manure and bio-fertilizer and its publicity

§ Distribution of pesticides

§ Mechanization of farm and distribution of Agricultural equipments at subsidized price


§ sub-allot minikits / seeds / bio-fertilizer (at subsidized price) to Panchayat Samitis for distribution among farmers

§ Fix target for each Panchayat Samiti for distribution of Agricultural equipments

§ Fix target in consideration of technical possibilities and field situation and monitor timely distribution

§ If necessary, Z.P./PAO will reserve 5% inputs


§ fix target for distribution of minikits / seeds / bio-fertilizer (at subsidized price) to Gram Panchayats

§ Monitor proper and timely distribution of Agricultural equipments on the basis of technical possibilities and field situation

§ Organize awareness camp with the support of Gram Panchayat for maintenance of eco-system and reuse of implements/equipments/inputs


§ Identify & select beneficiaries for distribution of minikits / seeds / bio-fertilizer / pesticides / farm machinery / plant protection equipments

§ Prepare list in consultation with ADO after expiry of time limit for distribution

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Financial Assistance to farmers

§ Crop Insurance and Kishan Credit Card

§ Farmers Old Age Pension (Sub-div. Agriculture Officer being the DDO)

In consultation with the Sthayee Samiti along with DLCC / DLBC the Principal Agricultural Officer will -

§ prepare Block wise Action Plan

§ involve Agricultural Officers working at Sub-division level

§ Monitor & supervise crop insurance and Kishan Credit Card distribution

§ Monitor & supervise Block wise distribution of farmers’ old age pension. In this case Sundar Ban Islands, flood and drought prone areas and forest areas of Dooars will get priority


§ fix up GP wise Action Plan

§ involve Agricultural Officers working at Sub-division level in monitoring and supervision

§ monitor and supervise GP wise distribution of old age pension


§ collect data § jointly survey

loss of crop and assist the Department in estimation of amount

§ collect soil for sample survey and organize awareness camp on this issue

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Management of Agri-farm

§ Seed production

§ Infrastructure development

§ Supply and utilization of human resource

In consultation with the Sthayee Samiti along with DLCC / DLBC the Principal Agricultural Officer will -

• prepare Action Plan for quality seed production • distribute financial assistance under centrally sponsored programme for infrastructure development of fund • take initiative for supply and utilization of human resources

• monitor and supervise


§ prepare Action Plan for quality seed production in Agri-farm

§ take action for supply of Agri-labour

§ maintain quality of seeds

§ arrange for proper utilization of seeds in the locality


• estimate need-based requirement of seeds

• take active role in production of quality seeds and their distribution

• collect data on use of seeds and their impact

ITEM: 2 - Animal Resources Development:


Matsya O Prani-Sampad Bikash Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Dy. Director, ARD

Matsya O Prani-Sampad Bikash Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Block Livestock Dev. Officer


Link Officer – Livestock Dev. Assistant

Beneficiary Selection for different


§ Awareness campaign and wide

§ Fixing up target for each Panchayat Samiti for selection of beneficiaries

§ Fixing up target for each Gram Panchayat for selection of beneficiaries

§ Identification and selection of beneficiaries

§ Awareness generation

§ Organization

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Programs publicity among farmers

§ Formation of groups

of self-help groups


§ Assessment of training need of farmers

§ Selection of trainees

§ Chalking out training program

§ Specialized training

§ Awareness training

§ Information dissemination and motivation of farmers

§ Identification of training need of farmers

§ Selection of trainees for training program at dist. level

§ Preparation and analysis of dist. Level data base

§ Allotment of fund to Panchayat Samitis for training

§ Selection of trainees for Block level training program

§ Selection of venue for GP level training

§ Supervision of GP level training

§ Celebration of PRANI SAPTAHA

§ Release of fund to Gram Panchayats

§ Identification of training need and selection of trainees for GP level training program

§ Field demonstration for fodder cultivation on community land and vested land

§ Organization of health camp at villages on ARD issues

§ Organization of awareness camp on preventive measures

§ Celebration of PRANI SAPTAHA

Increasing Fodder Production

§ Augmentation of Fodder Production through distribution of minikits, sale of seeds, Kishan Bon, Fodder demonstration etc.

§ Policy decision on supply of minikits / seeds / manure to Blocks

§ Fixing scale of distribution of minikits / seeds / manure per block;

§ Policy decision on purchase of seeds

§ Policy decision on sub-allotment of fund to different Blocks

§ Supply of minikits to different GPs and fixing scale of distribution of minikits per GP

§ Monitoring & supervising distribution of minikits and sale of seeds to farmers

§ Distribution of minikits / seeds / manure to farmers

§ Generation of awareness and wide publicity among farmers

§ Field demonstration to farmers

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Livestock Development

§ Breed up-gradation through distribution of improved variety livestock

§ Rearing of birds and small animals – Family scheme and individual scheme

§ Vaccination Program

§ Artificial Insemination Program

§ Infrastructure Development

§ Distribution of improved variety of livestock to Blocks

§ Drawing up action plan of Vaccination program and Artificial Insemination program for the Dist.

§ Policy decision on execution of work and release of fund

§ Collection of improved variety of livestock from Dist. Farm and determining scale of distribution to GPs

§ Monitoring of the situation to prevent out break of epidemic

§ Monitoring of Artificial Insemination program; identifying problem areas and covering gap

§ Need based prioritization and execution of work

§ Distribution of improved variety birds / small animals to farmers

§ Providing facility of hatching

§ Vaccination of animals against epidemic

§ Execution of Artificial Insemination with the help of Prani Bandhu at fixed price

§ Assessment of need for infrastructure development

Planning and Budgeting

§ Preparation of development plan for five year term and annual plan and budget for each year in respect of fund available under their disposal

§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Sthayee Samiti for each year


§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Upa Samiti for each year

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ITEM: 3 – Cottage and Small Scale Industries: Function Activity Responsibility of Standing Committees of three-tier PRIs

Khudra Shilpa, Bidyut O Achiracharit Shakti Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – General Manager, DIC

Khudra Shilpa, Bidyut O Achiracharit Shakti Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Industrial Development Officer

Shilpa O Parikathama Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Officer – Job Assistant / Nirman Sahayak

Beneficiary selection for different Programs


§ Formation of groups



§ Identification of beneficiaries

§ Organization of self-help groups


§ Assessment of training need and selection of trainees § Entrepreneur

dev. program § Skill dev.

training program

§ Awareness campaign and wide publicity among artisans

§ Assessment of training need

§ Organization of Entrepreneur dev. program and skill dev. training

§ Organization of awareness camp at Dist. Level

§ Organization of Handicraft competition at Dist. level

§ Selection of trainees / venue for skill dev. training program run by NGO

§ Selection of entrepreneurs for training

§ Supervision of training

§ Organization of awareness camp at Block level

§ Conducting wide publicity for competition

§ Identification of training need for skill dev. training


§ Organization of awareness camp at GP level

§ Motivation of rural artisans

Development of micro-enterprise and enterpreneurs

§ Pradhan Mantri Rozgar` Yojana § Deputing

Artisans to fairs / melas § Promotion of

Bio-gas § Credit linkage

of entrepreneurs

§ Co-ordination between entrepreneurs and financial institutions for credit linkage

§ Action plan for development of micro-enterprise / enterpreneurs

§ Selection of micro-enterprise / entrepreneurs

§ Developing micro enterprise / self enterprise with bank credit

§ Selection of Artisans for fairs / melas within the district

§ Promotion of bio-

§ Identification of micro-enterprise / entrepreneurs

§ Group formation & selection of activities

§ Selection of Artisans for fairs / melas outside the

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gas plant

district or state § Awareness

generation and wide publicity





§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Upa-Samiti for each year

ITEM: 4 – Health and Family Welfare:


Janasasthya O Paribesh Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer- Chief Medical Officer of Health

Janasasthya O Paribesh Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Block Medical Officer of Health

Siksha O Janasasthya Upa-Samiti

Link Officer – Health Supervisor

Improvement in Infrastructure

Upgrading facilities at Sub-center

Civil works for improvement of infrastructure (large size outlay)

• Maintenance and upgradation of BPHC and PHC

• Maintenance and upgradation of Sub-centers

Supply of Materials

Procuring materials and distribution

• Fund allotment • Lifting of materials from State Hqtrs and supply to different block

• Supervision and monitoring of utilization of funds and materials by BPHCs and PHCs • Local Purchase of

• Supervision and monitoring of utilization of funds and materials by Sub-centers

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non-medical items required by the PHCs and BPHCs as may be authorized by H&FW Department

• Local Purchase of non-medical items required by the sub-centers as may be authorized by H&FW Department

• Monitoring and supervision of Departmental service delivery system • Monitoring and supervision of functioning of PRI bodies

• Restructuring monitoring & reporting system • Operating Management Information System • Involving Self-Help Groups in monitoring community health

• Compilation of reports and returns from Block-level and analysis for monitoring crucial public health indicators • Planning for focused interventions • Supervision of secondary curative services and standing committees of the Panchayat Samiti.

• Compilation of monthly reports from Sub-centers and GPs, and analysis for monitoring crucial public health indicators • Supervision of Primary curative Services • Supervision of GP level Upa-Samitis on Health. • Planning for focused interventions

• Monitoring most important public health indicators • Planning for focused interventions • Involving Self-Help Groups in monitoring community health

Involving community in promotive and preventive health care management

• Mobilizing the community through Self-Help Groups • For better utilization of available services and • For adopting better practices

• Devising IEC Strategy • Developing IEC materials • Organizing campaign for planned family, safe motherhood, best child care practices

• Planning and organization for IEC activities • Organizing campaign for planned family, safe motherhood, best child care practices

• Birth and Death Registration • Updating ECCR • Disease surveillance to pre-empt outbreak • Preventive measures against spread of communicable diseases • Conducting Base-line Survey on status of community health • Surveillance and rapid response issues • Promoting

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planned family norms and practices • Arrangement of referral transport in serious cases • Promotion of concepts of nutrition and best dietary practices • Ensuring nutrition supplement for mother and child through ICDS / AWC Ensuring nutrition supplement in schools

Special Programme Implementation

• Universal immunization • Pulse polio • Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program • Vector-borne disease program (Malaria and Kala-zar) • NPCB Program • Total Sanitation Programme • Swajaldhara (Safe Drinking Water) • NLEP • AIDS • RCH • Mental Health

• Fund allotment, monitoring and supervision of immunization program including pulse polio • Development of infrastructure for Institutional delivery • Monitoring availability of medicine at PHCs • Organizing sterilization camp for eligible couple • Organizing cataract operation camps

• Implementation of immunization programme • Promotion of Institutional delivery • Monitoring availability of medicine at sub-centres • Organizing training of school teachers on eye care • Organizing training of Traditional Birth Attendants (Dai) • Implementation of safe drinking water projects / schemes • Ensuring timeliness and quality in delivery of household latrines by Rural Sanitary Marts • Construction of community toilets at

• Awareness for taking preventive measures against common diseases like malaria, kala-zar, TB, leprosy and monitoring follow-up practices by patients. • Organizing users groups for new safe drinking water sources and maintenance of existing water sources. • Promotion of demand for latrines in every household. • Preparing proposals for community toilets at public places, schools, AWC,

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• School Health • Disabilities • Thalassamia

public places, Sub-Centres under TSC and toilets in schools, AWCs under School Sanitation Programme • Organizing training of School Teachers in School Sanitation, Environmental Sanitation and Personal Hygiene. Monitoring School heath programme

Health Sub-Centres • Ensuring environmental sanitation including prevention of open defecation, protection of water source, drainage, cleanliness of habitat Ensuring Timely Spraying of Vector control chemicals

Capacity Building

• Training to Health / Anganwadi workers, Panchayat functionaries, NGO workers, members of SHGs on RCH, TB / AIDS/ Leprosy control Programs • Skill Development Training

• Allotment of fund for training • Sending resource persons for training • Organizing and conducting skill development training for Health workers

• Organizing and conducting sensitization Training • Selection of clientele for training • Imparting skill development training to traditional Dais

• Identifying clienteles for training • Capacity building for SHGs for developing a surveillance system through SHGs • Up-gradation of HQ sub-centers for delivery of additional services including development of a Panchayat owned Labour Hut.


§ Preparation of development plan for five year term and annual plan and budget for each year in respect of fund available




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under their disposal

ITEM: 5 – Forestry including Social Forestry:


Bon O Bhumi Sanskar Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Divisional Forest Officer and Additional / Astt. Divisional Forest Officer

Bon O Bhumi Sanskar Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Range Officer / Beat Officer


Link Officer –Forest Extension Worker

Beneficiary selection for different Programs


§ Awareness campaign and wide publicity among artisans




§ Awareness generation at village

§ SHG formation

Increasing forest coverage

§ Aforestation and strip plantation

§ Dev. of fruit garden and saplings nursery

§ Preparation of Action plan for works

§ Supervision and monitoring of works

§ Plantation of trees, distribution of saplings

§ Selection of Workers / beneficiaries in consultation with Forest Protection committee

Development of Infrastructure for forest

§ Const. Of village road, earthen dam, excavation of well,



§ Execution of Infrastructural works

§ Selection of Workers / beneficiaries in consultation with Forest

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villages installation of Tube Well in forest village

Protection committee

Socio-economic activities

§ Introducing income generating activities for villagers viz, distribution of Sal-leaf-plate making machine / sewing machine / chicks / ducklings/ fingerlings / minikits / saplings of fruit trees in forest villages



§ Distribution of inputs for micro-enterprise

§ Providing assistance for income generating activities

§ Identification of income generating activities






ITEM: 6 - Women and Child Development and Social Welfare:


Nari O Sishu Unnayan Tran O Janakalyan Sthayee

Nari O Sishu Unnayan Tran O Janakalyan Sthayee

Nari Sishu Unnayan O Samaj Kalyan Upa-

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Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Dist. Social Welfare Officer & Dist. Programme Officer

Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Block Welfare Officer & Child Development Project Officer of ICDS

Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Officer –Supervisor of ICDS

Selection of beneficiaries for different programmes

§ Survey of beneficiaries

§ Identification & selection of beneficiaries

§ Awareness generation in villages

§ Mobilization of community

§ Selection of beneficiaries for Non-institutional care of children up to 18 years

§ Recommendation of names of beneficiaries for Pension Schemes to the DM for approval § Recommendation

of beneficiaries for Non-institutional care of children up to 18 years

§ Supportive role in survey of beneficiaries availing facilities of Anganwadi Centers

§ Identification of beneficiaries for NPAG, Kishori Shakti Yojana & Pension Schemes

§ Issue of BPL certificate for beneficiaries of Balika Sambriddhi Yojana

§ Awareness generation in villages to motivate parents for pre-school education & immunization of their children

§ Mobilize community participation to improve quality of cooked food in Anganwadi

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Centers

Construction of Anganwadi Centers

§ Selection of sites for Anganwadi Centers

§ Construction of Anganwadi Centers

§

§ Supervision of construction of Anganwadi Centers

§ Recommendation of sites for Anganwadi Centers

§ Construction of Anganwadi Centers

Convergence of activities

§ Co-ordination of programmes

§ Monitoring & Supervision of Programmes

§ § Co-ordination to ensure availability of facilities / benefits to SHGs of Swayamsiddha & convergence with other SHGs formed under different programmes

§ Convergence of activities of ICDS and reporting of functioning of Anganwadi Centers to the Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

§ Convergence of ICDS activities and reporting of functioning of Anganwadi Centers in the convergence meeting at GP level with the Supervisors and the ANMs



§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Sthayee Samiti for each year out of resources available for ZP

§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Sthayee Samiti for each year out of resources available for PS

§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Upa Samiti for each year out of resources available for GP

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ITEM: 7 – Food & Supplies including Public Distribution System:


Khadya O Sarbahara Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Dist. Controller of Food & Supplies

Khadya O Sarbahara Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Sub-Inspector of Food & Supplies

Artha O Parikalpana Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Officer –Executive Assistant

Distribution of food grains to BPL / Antodaya Annya Yojana & Annapurna Card holders


§ Distribution of BPL Cards, Antodaya Annya Yojana Cards & Annapurna Cards

§ Additional quota of beneficiaries

§ Approval of beneficiary list

§ Fixing additional quota of beneficiaries for blocks

§ Preparation of list of beneficiaries for BPL cards

§ Fixing quota of beneficiaries for Gram Panchayats

§ Identification & selection of beneficiaries for distribution of BPL Cards, Antodaya Annya Yojana Cards & Annapurna Cards

§ Fixing quotas of beneficiaries for each Gram Sansad

Public Distribution System

§ Lifting of food grains from FCI

§ Checking quality of food grains

§ Allotment of food grains and Kerosene Oil

§ Issue of Ration Cards

§ Monitoring lifting of food grains from FCI

§ Monitoring distribution of food grains to MR Dealers

§ Monitoring preparation and distribution of Ration Cards

§ Monitoring distribution of food grains from MR Shop to the beneficiaries.

Procurement of food grains


§ Selection of Farmers’ Co-operative Societies

§ Fixing up

§ Fixing up target for each Rice Mill

§ Monitoring Milling of paddy

§ Storing of rice in Godowns

§ Selection of Farmers’ Co-operative Societies for purchase of paddy

Providing certificate confirming procurement of paddy from the farmers at Minimum

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target for each Rice Mill

§ Milling of paddy and storing of rice

Support Price (MSP)






ITEM: 8 – Fishery:


Matsya O Prani Sampad Bikash Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Asstt. Director of Fisheries

Matsya O Prani Sampad Bikash Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Fishery Extension officer


Link Officer – Sahayak of GP

Capacity Building


§ Organizing training

§ Organizing awareness camp

§ Release of fund for training

§ Action plan for all sorts of training and Awareness camp in consultation with the Asstt. Director of Fisheries

§ Preparation of Training Need Assessment in consultation with

§ Organization of training

§ Selection of training venue

§ Liaison with NGO for training

§ Identification & selection of beneficiaries for GP or village level training

§ Holding awareness camp

§ Identification of fisher women belonging to

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the Asstt. Director of Fisheries

§ Supervision of training

Co-operative Societies

Infrastructure Development for Fishermen

§ Construction of Cluster housing with Community Hall

§ Construction of approach road

§ Construction of Sanitary Latrine, Water source

§ Monitoring and supervision of works

§ Monitoring and supervision of works

§ Identification of beneficiaries and places for house sites

Fish Farming / composite farming

§ selection of ponds / open cast pit for fish farming

§ Improvement of tank § harvesting § Netting § Excavation of

tank § Testing soil

and water § Supply of

minikits

Monitoring and supervision of works

§ Approval of beneficiaries and ponds / open cast pit for pisciculture

§ Approval of derelict / semi-derelict tanks for pisciculture

§ Handing over tanks to Co-operative Societies or Groups on lease for management and farming

§ Excavation of tank

§ Identification and selection of beneficiaries and their ponds / open cast pit

§ Identification & selection of derelict / semi-derelict tanks

§ Netting and harvesting

§ Collection of sample (soil and water) for testing

§ Supply of lime and minikits

Welfare of Fisher men

§ Distribution of HARI, Cast net and Drag net, fingerlings, lime and vending inputs

§ Liberation of

§ Allocation of fund, kind components for Blocks

§ Selection of sites for liberation of fingerlings in river

§ Selection of Co-operative Societies

§ Supervision of works related to selection of beneficiaries

§ Identification and selection of groups /beneficiaries

§ Delivery of fingerlings and other inputs

§ Selection of beneficiaries

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fingerlings in river

§ Pension to old age fisher men

for FFDA / BFDA






ITEM: 9 – Backward Classes Welfare:


Sishu O Nari Unnayan, Janakalyan O Tran Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Project Officer cum District Welfare Officer

Sishu O Nari Unnayan, Janakalyan O Tran Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Inspector of Backward Classes Welfare

Nari, Sishu Unnayan O Samaj kalyan Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat Link Officer– Gram Panchayat Secretary

Beneficiary identification and selection for different Programs


§ Awareness campaign and wide publicity among weaker sections

§ Fixing up targets of beneficiaries / pensioners / SHGs for each Panchayat Samiti

§ Circulation of guidelines to all Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats

§ Fixing up target for credit inputs

§ Supervision for selection of beneficiaries / pensioners / SHGs

§ Supervision for selection of new sources of drinking water

§ Credit linkage for SHGs / farmers / individual beneficiaries under

§ Identification of farmers for Minor Irrigation schemes

§ Identification & selection of pensioners / beneficiaries at Gram Sansad for Poverty Alleviation

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for each Panchayat Samiti

§ Selection of Gram Panchayats for Minor Irrigation schemes, augmenting sources of drinking water

SCP or TSP or other programs

§ Disbursement of pension to old age pensioners

Programs § Site selection

for new sources of drinking water

§ Organization of grain-gola / grain-bank

Capacity Building

§ § Release of fund for training

§ Action plan for all sorts of training and Awareness camp

§ Assessment of Training Need

§ Selection of Gram Panchayats with concentration of weaker sections for awareness camp, wide publicity

§ Organization and supervision of training for women / SHGs / farmers

§ Release of fund to Gram Panchayats

§ Holding awareness / motivation camp

§ Hand holding support to SHGs / women groups

Book Grant, Stipend & Scholarship for SC/ST/OBC students

§ Selection of students for book grant, stipend, scholarship

§ Fixing up targets for different schools

§ Collection of names of students from schools

§ Release of fund to schools

§ Reporting to Panchayat Samiti about any difficulty in getting book grant, stipend, scholarship from school within its area






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ITEM: 10 – Mass Education Extension including Library Services:


Siksha, Sanskriti, Tathya O Krira Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – District Mass Education Officer & District Library Officer

Siksha, Sanskriti, Tathya O Krira Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Extension Officer Mass Education & Lady Extension Officer Mass Education

Siksha O Janasasthya Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Oficer - Executive Assistant of Gram Panchayat

Management of District Libraries / Sponsored Libraries / Sponsored Rural Libraries / Community Library cum Information Centre

§ Supervision of the activities of Libraries § Disseminatio

n of information on Rural Development Programs / on social issues / on locally available resources / on functioning of PRIs

§ Supervision of the activities of District Libraries § Sending copies of

guidelines / booklets for all development programs to Dist. Library for general information of public § Sending copy of

Annual Report / Budget / Annual Plan of ZP to Dist. Library § Sending data /

information on social issues to Dist. Library

§ Supervision of the activities of Sponsored Libraries § Sending copies of

guidelines / booklets for all development programs to Sponsored Library for general information of public § Sending copy of

Annual Report / Budget / Annual Plan of PS to Sponsored Library § Sending data /

information on social issues to Sponsored Library § Disbursement of

salary to organizer of CLIC § Audit of CLIC by

PAAO

§ Supervision of the activities of Rural Libraries / Library cum Information Centre § Sending copies

of guidelines / booklets for all development programs to Rural Library / CLIC for general information of public § Sending copy

of Annual Report / Budget / Annual Plan of GP to Rural Library / CLIC § Sending data /

information on social issues to Rural Library / CLIC

Continuing Education

Monitoring & supervision of Continuing Education

• Planning, Monitoring & Supervision by the ZSS (Link

§ Monitoring & supervision of Continuing Education Centre

§ Regular contact with Literates / Neo-literates for

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Program Centres Officer---Officer-in-Charge Literacy Cell) Convergence of development schemes with CEP.

§ Convergence of Literacy with income generating activities, SHGs & community health initiative

attendance in Continuing Education Centre

§ To treat nodal Continuing Education Centre as Rural Information Centre

Scholarship for handicapped students of class IX onwards

§ Publicity campaign

§ Awareness camp

§ Identification of students

§ Sponsoring students

§ Sponsoring names of students through school § Monitoring

disbursement of scholarship to students through school

§ Organization of Publicity campaign

§ Holding awareness camp for students & parents

§ Identification of students

Institute for the disabled (Special Schools)

§ Special Education and Training for the Sightless, Hearing Impaired and Mentally Retarded students.

§ Supervision and monitoring of the Institutes.

§ Consideration of the proposals for academic recognition / sponsorship of Institutes for disabled (to be forwarded to the MEE Deptt. / Dte. with recommendation or otherwise).

§ Supervision and monitoring of the Institutes.

Social Welfare Homes under the control of Mass

§ To provide food, shelter, education etc. to boys & girls up to the age of 18 years or

§ Publicity and supervision of Social Welfare Homes.

§ Recommendation of applications for admission to Social Welfare Homes.

§ Publicity and Supervision.

§ Recommendation of applications for admission.

§ Publicity and Supervision.

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Education Extension Deptt./Dte.

Madhyamik pass whichever is earlier.

Adult High School

§ To impart education up to Madhyamik level to interested Adult learners who are not enrolled in any formal school.

§ Consideration of proposal for opening of new Adult High School. (To be forwarded to the MEE Deptt. / Dte. with recommendation or otherwise).

§ Publicity and Supervision of Adult High Schools.

§ Publicity and Supervision of Adult High Schools.



§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Sthayee Samiti for each year.

§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Sthayee Samiti for each year.

§ Preparation of annual plan and budget for the Upa Samiti for each year.

ITEM: 11 – Information & Cultural Affairs:



Link Officer –


Link Officer – Sub-


Link Oficer -

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District Information & Cultural Affairs Officer

divisional Information & Cultural Affairs Officer

Executive Assistant of Gram Panchayat

Multimedia Campaign

• Arranging Cultural Programs, speech, film etc.

• Selection of blocks • Release of fund

• Selection of Gram Panchayats

• Organizing Cultural Programs, speech, film etc.

• Selection of Venues

•

Dissemination of information

• Exhibition on local issues or subject

• Display of Hoarding

• Selection of issue, subject

• Release of fund • Selection of block • Selection of theme

for hoarding • Supplying messages

• Selection of Gram Panchayat

• Organization of exhibition

• Preparation of hoarding

• Selection of venue for exhibition

• Selection of site for hoarding

• Fixing hoarding

Essay writing competition in schools

• Selection of subject

• Fund release • Contact with

teachers & students of schools

• Checking of answer scripts

• Selection of subject

• Fund release

• Contact with teachers & students of schools

• Checking of answer scripts

Celebration of important dates

• Celebration of red letter days

• Campaign for national Programs, viz, Pulse Polio

• Selection of dates • Release of fund • Selection of block

• Liaison with GPs • Organization of

celebration program

• Organizing Campaign

• Wide publicity & campaign

• Selection of venue

Folk festival

• Organization of folk festival

• Promotion of folk culture

• Selection of theme for folk festival

• Selection of block • Fund release • Supply of Musical

instruments

• Selection of GP • Organization of

festival • Infrastructural

support

• Selection of venue for festival

• Identification of beneficiaries / participants

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Promotion of song, drama

• Workshop on Tagore-songs, Nazrul-songs, folk-songs

• Selection of block • Selection of teacher • Release of fund

• Selection of venue • Contact with

schools

Children’s film festival

• Selection of film for each block

• Fund release • Contact with

Cinema Hall owners

• Fixing up time for film show

• Selection of venues

• Contact with schools for publicity among students

• Distribution of entry tickets / cards






ITEM: 12 – School Education:



Link Officer – District Inspector of Schools


Link Officer – Sub-Inspector of Schools


Link Oficer - Executive Assistant of Gram Panchayat

Spread of School

• Establishment of new School

• Selection of sites for establishment of

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Education

• Up-gradation of Schools

new school • Recommendatio

n for up-gradation of schools

Mid day meal Programme

• Management of programme

• Supervision of Programme

• Supervision and management of Mid day meal Programme

• Management and supervision of Mid day meal programme

Mobilizing community participation in Education

• Mobilization of VEC

• Monitoring of VEC

•

• Supervision and monitoring of VECs

• Supervision and monitoring of VECs

• Mobilization of VEC

• Counseling, guidance & monitoring of VEC

• Formation of Parents – teacher association

• Organizing teacher-community interface






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ITEM: 13 – Public Health and Engineering


Janasasthya O Paribesh Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Executive Engineer, PHE.

Janasasthya O Paribesh Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Sub-Assistant Engineer, PHE.

Siksha O Janasasthya Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Oficer - Job Assistant / Nirman Sahayak.

Development of water supply system

• Identification of schemes, locations

• Formulation of projects and schemes

• Technical approval of schemes

• Execution of schemes

• Formulating major water supply schemes (Pipe water supply)

• Execution of schemes beyond the competence of Panchayat Samitis

• Technical approval of schemes beyond the competence of Panchayat Samitis

• Formulating projects

• Seeking technical approval from Zilla Parishad for projects beyond the competence of Panchayat Samitis

• Execution of schemes (DTW / Mark-II / Tara Hand Pump) beyond the competence of Gram Panchayats

• Identification of schemes and locations

• Construction of wells, tanks, Tube Wells (Ordinary Hand Pump)

• Periodical chlorination of open wells and disinfection of Tube wells

• Collection of water sample for testing

Monitoring rural water supply schemes

• Release of fund

• Reporting progress

• Monitoring & supervision

• Release of fund for projects to Panchayat Samitis / Gram Panchayats

• Monitoring and supervising progress and quality of works

• Reporting progress of schemes

Maintenance of water supply

• Maintaining schemes

• Collection of water charges

• Awareness of

• Providing technical skill when necessary

• Providing fund if required

• Maintaining big water supply schemes beyond the competence of Gram

• Maintaining drinking water schemes, collecting

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system

community Panchayats water charges for projects handed over to PRI through User Committee

• Awareness on use of safe drinking water






ITEM: 14 – Water Investigation and Development.


Krishi Sech O Samabaya Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – Executive Engineer, Agri – Irrigation, Agri-Mech.

Krishi Sech O Samabaya Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Sub-Assistant Engineer, Agri – Irrigation, Agri-Mech.

Krishi O Pranisampad Bikas Upa-Samiti of Gram Panchayat

Link Officer - Job Assistant / Nirman Sahayak.

Development of Minor Irrigation

• Identification of locations for projects

• Identification of

• Scrutiny of the schemes received from GP / PSs and recommendation

• Seeking technical vetting of Executive Engineers (AI /

• Identification of locations for projects

• Constructio

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system, drainage system, water investigating structures and water management

beneficiaries • Formulation

of Minor Irrigation projects

• Execution of Minor Irrigation Projects

• Supervision, monitoring and review of the progress and quality of works

to DSSC for final selection

• Joint supervision, monitoring and review of the progress

• Co-ordination between various departments and agencies funding projects

AM) through ZP for MI schemes beyond the competence of Panchayat Samitis

• Joint supervision and monitoring of progress of the schemes

n of percolation tanks, field channels within the GP

• Identification of beneficiaries under various programmes for MI Projects through Gram Sansad

Water Management

• Propagation of modern water management & delivery methods

• Organizing farm demonstration for modern water management techniques & conservation of water in field

• Encouraging farmers for on farm development and development of field channels / delivery system for proper utilisation of water

• Maintaining MI schemes, collecting water charges through User Committee for new projects handed over to PRI

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ITEM: 15 – Land and Land Reforms:


Bon O Bhumi Sanskar Sthayee Samiti of Zilla Parishad

Link Officer – District Land & Land Reforms Officer.

Bon O Bhumi Sanskar Sthayee Samiti of Panchayat Samiti

Link Officer – Block Land & land Reforms Officer


Link Officer - Revenue Inspector

Recording of names of Bargadars

• Identification of cultivators

• Display of notice

• Supervision of Barga recording

• Identification of cultivators for recording names as Bargadars

• Display of notice containing names of Bargadars cultivating land in that mouza

• Managem Management • Management of

Hat / Bazar / • Management of

Hat / Bazar / •

Management

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ent of Hat / Bazar / Ferry / Fishery / Tanks

of Hat / Bazar / Ferry / Fishery / Tanks up to 5 acre area

Ferry / Fishery / Tanks transferred to ZP

Ferry / Fishery / Tanks transferred to PS

of Hat / Bazar / Ferry / Fishery / Tanks transferred to GP

Dispute relating to cultivation & harvesting

• Identification of vulnerable areas

• Settlement of dispute

• Settlement of dispute relating to cultivation and harvesting

§ Identification of vulnerable areas relating to cultivation & harvesting dispute

Distribution of vested land

• Identification of undistributed vested agricultural land

• Selection of beneficiary

§ Pre-distribution survey of undistributed agri-land

§ Preparation of a priority list of beneficiaries

§ Performing function of Land Reforms Advisory Committee at Block level

§ Distribution of Patta

§ Identification of beneficiary for distribution of vested agri-land

Collection of Land Revenue and Cess

§ Creation of public awareness § Organization

of collection camp § Co-

ordination in collection

§ Co-ordination in collection efforts of land revenue and Cess in peak collection season

§ Organization of collection camp for collection of land revenue and Cess during peak collection season, i.e., the Bengali months of Poush, Magh, Falgun and Chaitra

§ Creation of public awareness regarding payment of revenue and Cess through suitable leaflets and other means of publicity

Institutional

• Fixing target for credit

§ Fixing target of institutional finance in


§ Assistance in

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finance to Bargadars and Patta holders

linkage • Identification

of beneficiaries

• Supply of application forms

• Disbursement of loan

Panchayat Samiti area to Bargadars and Pattadars in consultation with BLBC Block Level Bankers’ Co-ordination Committee)

§ Supply of application forms to G.Ps.

§ Drawing up programme for disbursement of loan in consultation with concerned bank

filling up application forms by beneficiaries

§ To attend loan disbursement programme

Amalgamation and splitting up of mouzas

§ Convey of opinion

§ To communicate opinion regarding Amalgamation or splitting up of mouzas



Change of village boundary due to appearance of ‘char’ land

§ Suggestion of name to ‘char’ land

§ Suggesting name of ‘char’ land

Management of road side land

Management of road side land

§ Management of road side land of roads maintained by the State Govt. through the Z.P.

Supervision of functions

Supervision of functions

§ Supervision of the functions of G.P. and P.S. relating to land matters

Settlement of different

Settlement of different types of vested, part-

§ Presence of representative at the time of

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types of vested, part-vested, fisheries / tanks / water bodies

vested, fisheries / tanks / water bodies

processing proposal for granting lease or for determination of such lease or for transfer of such lease

§ Considering the opinion of Sthayee Samiti regarding use of such water bodies § Considering

opinion of Sthayee Samiti in dispute finalisation






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Appendix-X

Summary of Discussions in Meetings with Academics and other Stakeholders.

1.00 Summary of suggestions by Academics and Researchers from the country and abroad in the meeting held on 12.7.2013 at ISI, Kolkata 1.Prof. Dilip Mukherjee, Boston University suggested the following I) Strict Adherence to prescribed formula for transfers to local governments. II) A time bound protocol to be introduced for approval of requested budgets from local bodies at least two months in advance of the start of the fiscal year. A proposal shall be deemed to have been approved in case of of delays in approval by higher level bodies. III) Allocated fund should be published on internet, local media, at least one month in advance of new fiscal year and the local government should be also be informed separately; IV) Funds to be digitally transferred to bank account of concerned local governments within stipulated period. V) Local government should have authority to spend approved amount, in case of any delay in receipt of funds, from other resources available. VI)) The Proportion of untied grants available with the local bodies need to be reviewed. Current proportion of untied grants in West Bengal (5%, plus incentive fund of 2%) is too low by standards of other states (Kerala, Karnataka). The actual amount disbursed is even lower. Kerala transfers 40% of all capital grants to the local governments. Past practices relating to devolution of untied grants in West Bengal (such as actual proportion devolved, time delays, nature of incentive-based component) need to be scrutinised. Best-practice in other Indian states need to be revived and West Bengal need to move on to best-practice standard. VII) Oversight and audit mechanisms. All three sets of oversight mechanisms need to be strengthened:

a) Gram Sabha: The system of twice-yearly meetings, with minimum attendance requirement, presentation of accounts, and majority approval required to pass budget and expenditure plans may be enforced strictly, with video recording if possible. b) Audit: Once-yearly financial audit by government auditor, and once-yearly social audit by NGO (The social audit should be latter announced and auditor should be protected). And approval of following year’s grants conditional on both of the above, with certain (e.g., 20%) percentage cut over entitlement in event of failure on any of them. c) Pre-Election Report Cards: performance report (according to prescribed format) of past elected members of PRI or ULB to be circulated to local population six months in advance of each Panchayat election.

VIII) Measures to enhance bottom-up planning.

a) Allocation of untied grants should also be conditional on submission of five-year capital spending plan by each new elected Panchayat/ ULB in the first year of its functioning. b) a new elected Panchayat/ULB should carry out intensive planning exercise for first six months. This plan should be based on discussions in Gram Sabha, with active engagement of other citizen groups (e.g., Village Education Committee). c) District Planning Committee may coordinate plans in bottom-up fashion as

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follows: d) Plans of GPs to be submitted to concerned Panchayat Samity (PS) (within six months of election). e) PS aggregates, coordinates and thereafter submits block development plan to Zilla Parishad (ZP) (one month later). f) ZP and District Planning Committee (DPC) aggregates and coordinates to form district development plan (one month later). g) Approval/detailed fund allocation to be decided two months in advance of second fiscal year of new PRI/ULB. Plan can be executed over subsequent five years including the first year of next administration.

IX) Measures to enhance autonomy of local bodies. Functions and capacities of PRI/ULB to be expanded: a) Business Development and Revenues (lot to learn from China here) b) Agricultural (esp. cash crop) marketing: Local government can help farmers to overcome the problem of middle man and traders. Local governments should develop alternative framework such that, farmers can sell agricultural products through cooperatives to wholesale buyers. This will increase both output and price received by farmers. c) Non-agricultural business development: Local government can act as an intermediary between local farmers and corporate bodies in case of contract farming; and can reduce the risk for farmers.

IX) Land valuation/taxation: Shortfall of tax revenues collected from demand need to be minimized by more efficient collection processes. X) Incentivize PRIs/ULBs by letting them retain high fraction of marginal revenues from business development plan. (in China, this amount is 40%) XI) Local government should be allowed to borrow from state financial institutions to tide over delays in disbursement of approved funds. XII) Each local government should be provided with qualified accountant as they deal with lump sum money. XIII) Pradhan-Upapradhans should receive management training XIV) Human Development:

a) PRIs/ULBs should be empowered to receive and act upon household grievances against govt. schools, health clinics and workers; and to put pressure on the service delivery unit concerned to improve performance. If their performances do not improve, then PRIs/ULBs should be able to file complaints to the cadre controlling authorities of the state-appointed employees; the local bodies may also be authorised to seek replacement of the recalcitrant/ non performing workers functioning within their respective jurisdiction. b) PRIs/ULBs should be empowered to use devolved or untied funds to start and operate para-schools, para-clinics, or contract with private providers to provide education, health and sanitation services.

XV) There should be clear demarcation of responsibilities across ZP, PS and GPs through specific items of expenditure. XVI) Role of ZP and PS:

a) Aggregation of plans and spending across lower level bodies for items with

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significant spill overs. b) Coordination of plans with other bodies at same horizontal level. c) Oversight of lower level bodies. d) ZP and DPC responsible for training of officials of lower level bodies, maintaining computerized data-base of financial plans and performance.

XVII) Special measures for Urban Local Bodies. a) Clear demarcation of responsibilities between state government, ULB and other Development Authorities with respect to specific infrastructure or service areas. b) Examine scope for merging elected ULB and Development Authorities, or formation of state wide Development Authority which acts as intermediary between ULBs and external financing bodies/ technology providers. c) Ensure functioning Ward Sabhas and Metropolitan Planning Committees mandated by 74th Amendment (to perform similar oversight and planning roles and this should be the condition of their receipt of untied funds). d) Strengthen capacity of ULBs to collect property taxes and levy user charges for services. e) Facilitate borrowing through Municipal Bonds, against approved funds and projected revenues (analogous to Bangalore) f) Negotiations with international development agencies (ADB, World Bank) for specific infrastructure projects and financing.

2.Prof. Nirmala Banerjee , Formerly of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences a) SFC should accept that its main task must be to ensure that there is a match between the resources available to local level governments and their regular financial requirements for running basic functions. At the minimum, the SFC must ensure that those assets that have been created are maintained properly. b) Experience says that more than any other assistance from any level of the state, rural women need properly functioning panchayats taking responsibility for providing local services, especially, functioning tube-wells at reasonable distance, all weather roads in good condition , proper lighting at night and sanitary latrines that women can use at any time. They should be able to feel that their complaints about non-functioning of these services are promptly attended by their local representatives. c) Untied grants to local bodies should also be based on the need for maintaining assets for providing services such as drinking water, sanitary latrines, all-weather roads etc. or we should arrange some kind of arrangements so that a part of the grant goes for maintenance purposes. This part of the grant should be based on the need for maintenance of the villages and may be calculated using criteria followed by centrally sponsored schemes (such as so many tube-wells for so many people, roads per area etc.). d) As Third Finance Commission suggested, central valuation board should judge land valuation and lands should be taken over at a price suggested by the board. People may also be willing to pay that tax as the receipt of the tax shows the ownership. e) Panchyats currently find it very difficult to raise local tax resources mainly because they have little to show as their achievements to local people. Experience of other states like Kerala and Karnataka has shown that those local governments that respond to immediate needs of local people can do better in this respect. Although Public Finance theory argues that the state has sovereign powers in matters of taxation, it is the experience world over that better performing states can demand and collect higher tax revenues.

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3.Prof. Arijita Datta,Calcutta University Main theme of this talk is about fund, function and functionaries of local bodies. A) Fund:

• Funds provided to local bodies should be allocated on need based approach. Local government has to play crucial role to overcome the problem (as mentioned by Prof. Abhirup Sarkar) of this approach. i) Female illiteracy, which is a globally accepted indicator of underdevelopment and (ii) share of the surface roads within the total area, which is an infrastructural issue crucial for providing services by local bodies, can be incorporated in the deprivation index which is mentioned by Mr. Dilip Ghosh.

• Due to the duplication of services by some centrally sponsored schemes, GP officials are confused about the approach to use funds. Since we have three layers of local bodies, we can specify some specific layer for some specific fund. Then the particular tier responsible for the fund can be held accountable for the failure or otherwise of using the funds. Good working GPs should be rewarded and those who are failing to do so should be penalized.

B) Functions: • In 73rd amendment of 1993, it was said that the key development subjects like

primary education and primary health should be controlled by PRIs. In West Bengal, all such services at the rural level are provided by respective line departments. There are studies even in West Bengal to show that local government controlled schools and hospitals perform better than schools and hospitals that are controlled by line departments. So primary education and primary health should be transferred to the Panchayats by the line departments; though line department should provide fund and support to them.

• Urbanization rate is very high in West Bengal. So we should also focus on urban local bodies. In recent years, health status of the urban West Bengal is going down and health services are not available to slum dwellers and to poor people. Since output of public health cannot be observed; and politicians therefore are not very keen to take advantage of this. c) Good performance of local bodies in public health should be awarded and brought to the public media as well.

C) Functionaries: • In West Bengal, there is lack of coordination between closely related departments.

Departments have their individual vertical hierarchy and they function within that frame. However, there is no scope for horizontal integration between closely related departments. Information about problems at local level are not properly disseminated. There should be more horizontal integration.

• Though people emphasize the priority of decentralization, but unexpected incidents are happening at the grass-roots level. State government officials avoid consulting with Pradhans and Upa –pradhans. Incorporation of the role of PRIs in the policy papers and avoiding them in reality is taking very different message to the field level.

4.Prof. Ratan Khasnabis, Formerly with Calcutta University Long term:

• To specify activities at various tires and with respect to various institutions including Line departments. • Following 11th schedule, specific activities to be assigned to LSG institutions. • To assign functionaries once the activities are properly specified.

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Short Term: • On the basis of the existing activities of local bodies and current fund flows

(information may be collected from State Panchayat Department and Urban Development Department) assign a percentage of State tax revenue for devolution to LSG institutions (devolution from 13th Finance Commission, the amounts flowing to local Govt. from development agencies and special grants if any, to be added to it).

• Measure the capacity of spending and then take a percentage of that to get the amount of the fund.

• Total fund may be divided between general grant and special component grant to local bodies (as done in Kerala). · Special component to be decided according to a suitable indicator of backwardness. · Ratio between general grant and special component fund in the Total fund would be 80:20 (like Kerala). For more equality, second part may be raised and for more equity, first part may be raised. · Between urban and rural LSG institutions, the division of the total fund would be according to the percentage of population. · The general grant will be divided between rural and urban LSG institutions in the ratio of population living in rural and urban areas.

• Allocation to rural LSG institutions will be further apportioned in the ratio of 70:15:15 among GP, Block and District Panchayat as it is done in Kerala. Rationale is that GPs delivers most of the Services.

• In the special component fund, there may exist a possibility of exclusion. For this, SFC should develop a suitable indicator of Intra-Rural and Intra-Urban backwardness.

• Any local body placed below a cut off point (to be decided by SFC) would be entitled to a grant of special component of the SFC award.

• For intra LSG institutions total available SFC funds would be allocated according to the following four criteria (like Kerala)- (i) Population, (ii) Deprivation Index, (iii) Tax Effort and (iv) Area. In a 100 point scale, the suggested weightage in percentage by type of local govt. might be as in Kerala.

• The awards of LSG institutions should form a part of the State budget as it is done in Kerala. Each local body will know right after the budget is passed, the quantum of allocation under different heads to each local body concerned.

• Broad categories of service provision on which funds can be spent should be identified until the activity mapping following the 11th schedule of the constitution is done properly.Untied funds should be given to local bodies (as suggested by Pranab Bardhan), only after the proper arrangement of activity.

• Information asymmetry should be minimized at every level to fight against corruption.

On Deprivation Index: A. For a Project tied fund

• The criterion must be a simple, transparent one and it must be based on the universally accepted norm of natural justice. Out of the possible recipients of the fund, a recipient who is most deprived should get the best share, particularly if the fund is to be allotted for meeting the basic minimum needs of the people.

- Suppose Rs. X is to be allocated for developing the drinking water facility. While disbursing the fund according to the principle of natural justice, one must know the status of each recipient (the GPs in this case) with respect to the existing level of availability of this facility among the recipients. The

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quantitative information in this regard shall have to be made available. Assuming that such information is available, the technical experts could be provided with the information in the form of a data set. The experts may normalize the data and arrange them in descending order (i.e., from the best to the worst).

B. For Untied allocation • For the allotment of the untied funds on the basis of a norm that follows the principle

of natural justice, one shall have to find out the position of each recipient in terms of ‘overall deprivation’ which can be captured by constructing a Composite Deprivation Index for each recipient. For this one shall have to assign relative importance to each facility. This, again, is a question of judgment which a technical expert should not exercise. It appears that the consensus would be to include the following variables - a. Literacy, b. Poverty indicator (BPL percentage), and c. Percentage of SC and ST in population.

5.Mr. Buddhadeb Ghosh, Sr. Fellow, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata Some conceptual issues: 1. It is necessary to treat Panchayat as local government, because that is how the

constitution has defined it. To say this is not to state the obvious because in practice Panchayat in most of the states, including West Bengal, has been utilized practically only as the ‘implementing agency’ of some centrally sponsored schemes of the Government of India. To derive a perception of Panchayat from the observational position of seeing the institution in practice will, therefore, not be helpful in addressing the tasks assigned to the Commission. To a certain extent, the Commission has to take a normative approach too.

2. By considering Panchayats as a government at that level, we are adding a new tier of government; and so its functions must be allocated. No consensus has evolved so far on basic principles of allocation of Panchayats’ functions but there has been some thinking on the subject. Pioneering work in this regard was done by a committee on decentralization set up by the Government of Kerala in 1996 under the chairmanship of S.B. Sen, popularly known as Sen Committee. In its first report, it enunciated certain principles, which were later adopted by the Second Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) of Government of India, in its report on local governance submitted in 2006. Following ARC report, these principles may be as follows. · There should be an exclusive functional jurisdiction or autonomous sphere of action for PRIs. The state government shall not exercise any control in this sphere, except giving general guidance or advice. If any line department performs any activity in this sphere presently, it should cease to perform that activity after devolution. · There may be a sphere of activity where the state and local governments will work as equal partners, e.g. education.

3. Panchayats may perform ‘agency functions’ also (that is to say the ‘functions’ discharged by agents for implementing specific schemes of central or state government). But such functions should not overshadow the other two spheres of functions. SFC should remain concerned with only the first two categories of functions of PRIs.

4. As local government, panchayat must have autonomy in the field of local governance. Autonomy means freedom of action: A Panchayat should not only have the freedom to implement public policy but should also have the freedom to control and formulate public policy. In a federal system, there will remain government at different levels –

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national, regional and then local. Since there will be governments at different levels, government at every level must have limited autonomy or freedom of action over specified areas and specified subjects. But each government should have a separate existence and independence from the control of other governments. No government should exist as an appendage of another government, but as an autonomous entity in the sense of being able to exercise its own will in the conduct of its affairs. Functions of Panchayats of West Bengal: • The statutory provisions defining the functions of panchayats of West Bengal

(Sections 19, 20 and 21 of the West Bengal PanchayatAct) are no guide to action. Everything that the state government usually does in the developmental field is listed as functions of panchayats. 11th schedule states that even ‘Land reforms’ and ‘poverty alleviation’ are the tasks of panchayats. While there are slight, but not substantial, differences between the functions of gram panchayat and the other two tiers, there is absolutely no difference between the functions of PS and those of ZP, as Sections 109 and 153 of the Panchayat Act would reveal. There is no exclusive list of functions earmarked for particular tiers of panchayat. In other words, the scheme of the Panchayat Act is that there will not be any separate list of functions for the panchayats, they will be merely permitted to function along with the state government within a concurrent list of functions. Since the panchayats do not have adequate resources in terms of funds and functionaries, most of the functions earmarked for panchayats in the Act remain unattended by them. In fact, in determining its action programme, no GP or PS or ZP refers to the list of functions assigned to them in the statute. The makers of the West Bengal statute were aware that the instrument they prepared was not devolving any function to the panchayats in the sense of transferring functions/ activities from the state government to the latter with commensurate provisions for accessing financial and administrative resources as also autonomy in discharging the transferred functions/ activities. That is the reason why Section 207B has been inserted, which empowers the state government to transfer such ‘powers, functions and duties as are exercised, performed or discharged’ by the state government in respected of certain matters enumerated in the Act. But till today, as the third SFC of West Bengal noted, no order under this section has been issued.

5. Panchayats cannot determine their tasks in the absence of clear lists of functions for which PRIs would remain responsible. In fact, the panchayats largely end up doing what the state government asks them to do from time to time. Over the years they have been performing what may be called ‘agency tasks’ - tasks that have to be performed by them as agents of the state or central government in implementing their schemes or programmes. Funds handled by them constitute largely funds with strict conditionalities and aimed at implementation of some schemes/programme of the higher level government. Untied funds over which they can exercise their freedom come from three sources – Own source revenue (OSR), which is very meagre, grant from the awards of central finance commission (CFC) and SFC. The extent of autonomy that the panchayat can enjoy is directly proportional to the size of such untied funds. Untied funds constitute not more than 15% to 20% of the total funds received from the government. Hence the capacity of the panchayats to respond to the priority needs of the local people is severely restricted. Functional domain and the basis of determining the basis of state transfer to panchayat:

6. A Finance Commission in a federation makes estimates of financial requirement of the governments after considering the functions they have to perform or services they have

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to deliver. Hence the dictum: finance follows functions. But in the case of West Bengal’s SFC, the problem, as discussed above, is that the functions are not given. They cannot be deduced from the statute. It is also futile to look at the 11th schedule of the constitution, because it is nothing more than an illustrative list of functions that may be devolved to the local bodies and even as an illustrative list it is misleading. In the circumstances, functions of panchayats have to be constructed, as the Central Eleventh Finance Commission (CEFC) constructed the concept of ‘core services’. These are

Ø Primary education Ø Primary health Ø Roads including street lighting Ø Drinking water supply Ø Sanitation including drainage and waste disposal Ø Creation and maintenance of crematorium, burial ground Ø Public conveyances This may be a normative exercise or may be deduced from the practice of the panchayats in making their choices, while spending untied funds.

7. In constructing a list of functions for panchayats other than those related to implementation of centrally sponsored or state sponsored schemes, SFC may make a reference to the CEFC’s concept of core services and also to the second Administrative Reforms Commission’s (ARC) suggestions on entrusting the responsibility for delivering certain services to the PRIs. There is a lot of commonality between the suggestions of the two commissions, though ARC’s suggestions cover a wider ground than that covered by the EFC’s concept of ‘core services’. It is worthwhile to consider what according to the ARC should be the role of PRIs in delivering certain services to the rural areas. These are as follows.

Ø Civic services: Water supply and Sanitation Ø Social services:Health, Nutrition, Family welfare, School education Ø Infrastructure:Roads, Culverts, Rural electrification Ø Welfare services:Social security, public distribution system Ø Extension services Ø Governance related services like issue of certificates/licenses.

8. It may be noted that many panchayats of this state have remained involved in delivering many of the services mentioned above. In respect of delivering some services like village roads, water supply from spot sources, rural sanitation etc. they remain only service provider, even though these functions have not been formally devolved to them. It is, accordingly, possible to carve out a functional domain for panchayats, beyond the functions that they are required to perform as agents of higher level governments.

9. We think that the SFC may undertake an exercise for constructing such a functional domain for PRIs and indentify within the same a set of core services. Having done this, an estimate may be made of the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost for delivery of such services. However, cost of creating additional assets is a planning function which cannot be done by the SFC. Such an estimate should form the ‘objective basis of determining the share of state revenue that should go to the local bodies as a whole’. In making this estimate only O&M cost may be considered, for, till now, no fiscal arrangement is in place to take care of the operation and maintenance cost of the facilities and public assets created for delivering services to the local people in rural areas.

10. State transfers to panchayats in ‘tied’ or ‘untied’ form? : A question has been raised as to whether the SFC grants should flow to the local government institutions (LGI) in

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fully untied form or whether some directions on how to spend the same on certain categories of services should be given by the SFC/ Government? We would argue that the grant be given in fully untied form with the only stipulation that the same should be spent for delivering services the responsibility for which have been given to the LGIs. The justification for making fund transfers to panchayats (and municipal bodies) fully unconditional lies in the fact that conditional grants do not make them accountable for the outcome. In the matter of service delivery, citizens are concerned with outcomes, not anything else. We would like this SFC make a frontal attack on the concept of partial decentralization, which has not been found helpful in the past in making local bodies more responsible in respect of providing services to the satisfaction of local citizens. Partial decentralisation is defined as a situation under which local governments are not accountable for budgetary allocations (among various sectors) and their outcome. (See in this connection S. Devarajan, S. Khemani, S. Shah, ‘The Politics of Partial Decentralisation’, World Bank, 2007). When LGIs are not empowered to make budgetary allocations, citizens’ expectations of service delivery are placed at the doorstep of the state or central government. This position must be reversed by making the grant fully unconditional. For that will be the first major step for enhancing accountability of panchayats, which will in turn improve their performance in delivering services.

11. Plan and Non Plan distinction: SFC, like Central Finance Commission, should be concerned with non-plan fund transfer to the local bodies. Allocation of plan fund is not their task. This point needs to be kept in mind while determining the norms for distribution of funds among the local bodies, rural and urban. Normally the state’s block grants to local bodies, as also its specific purpose grants to them for meeting their revenue expenditure like salaries of staff, should be met from the revenue budget. In the face of huge deficits in the state’s revenue budget, the commission may think of identifying additional sources of revenue of the state government solely for the purpose of sharing the same with local bodies.

12. Resource Mobilisation: Previous SFCs have not paid adequate attention to the aspect of internal resource mobilization by the Panchayats. In this respect the performance of West Bengal’s panchayats has remained miserable compared to many other states. Present SFC may take a re-look at the performance and potentialities of the existing sources of revenue of the local bodies, particularly property tax, user charges, various fees and rates, and the feasibility of introducing new revenue sources, including giving effect to the provisions relating to surcharge on entertainment tax and on registration fee for transfer of property (Section 46(5) of the West Bengal Panchayat Act).

13. Urbanisation and Panchayats: The concern of the SFC for the special needs of non-municipal urban areas is welcome. Their problems have so far been neglected. Yet in the last 10 years the number of non-municipal census towns (population 5000+, density 400/Sq KM, 75% engaged in non-agricultural occupation) has jumped from around 255 in 2001 to 780 in 2011. In terms of population, some districts are experiencing high or moderate growth of urban population. They are: Howrah (63.30%), North 24 Parganas (57.03%), Bardhaman (39.87%), Darjeeling (38.99%), Hooghly (38.62%), Nadia (27.81%), Jalpaiguri(27%), South 24 Parganas(25.61%). Another feature noticed in 2011 is that Calcutta Metropolitan Area’s (CMA) share in total urban population of the state has been declining significantly indicating spread of urbanisation.Panchayats of these areas may be clubbed under a special category (say Nagar Panchayat). They demand certain services more than the rural panchayats, such as,

Ø Piped water supply, Ø Paved roads and street light,

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Ø Drainage system, Ø Solid waste management, Ø Control over building operation, traffic management Ø Infrastructure like bus station, organised markets, controlling encroachment etc.

14. Financial plan (transfers to and OSR of panchayats) for developing and maintaining the above infrastructure/services has to be worked out. SFC may undertake a study on this to address this issue effectively

6.Prof. Maitreesh Ghatak, London School of Economics One set of issue is normative. We all have a certain political of economy view of what decentralization should mean both in process and in terms of outcome. Those are important as that is what really matters. Having said that, the appraisals reveal that, SFC probably have a restricted role in addressing the broader issue that should come from the political process.

• Decisive role of political economy: Decentralization is not mechanism designing as in standard economic theory under a ideally designed system, where information trickles up and resources flow down and things are optimally designed, setting a technocratic view of things. Economics deals with technocratic problems which assume that underlying political problems are already solved. In today’s discussion Political economy did not come up that much as expected but that is understandable. The recent joint works of Mookherjee, Bardhan and Sarkar found support for Downsian Model, quite a bit in terms of implementation of various policies. In the charged up political situation in West Bengal, in terms of actual implementation of policies these are better where political competition are very strong. The median voter or the local elite does not face much variation due to the event of which political party is in power. This may be good or bad but political economy related thoughts should be on the table. Political economy factors happening in the top and the bottom would affect actual implementation.

• There are failures in logistics due to extreme irregularities and delays in fund receipt. Are the untied funds really untied? : Already this issue has been raised. A study by Ambrish Dongre on twenty GPs in Birbhum from 2005-06 to 2009-10 showed that untied funds constituted ten percent of total GP allocation (higher than the national level). Two things came up, 1) 70% of the untied fund was received by the GPs and 2) the 12th Finance Commission sanctioned funds had a better record than that of the SFC. But what is striking is that they were delayed by six months on an average. Uncertainty for this delay in the actual receipt also has a spill over effect on the decision making leading to failure in logistics.

• Another striking finding was that most of the untied funds get spent on infrastructure, outlay on drinking water being in the first place. A closer look reveals even the untied funds have some technical guidelines to conform to certain prototypes to select projects as per some standard template.

• Women in administration: The results show women’s reservation in most cases, not all, has positive effect on the implementation of schemes. It is not a matter whether we should have more reservation or less for women in the PRIs but how this mechanism can be linked better to financial disbursements. In a lot of the cash transfer type of schemes in the world, women are in the centre of household who get the decision making role.

• Use of communication technology to reduce overall inefficiency: The study, although it is a small sample, reveals that the main problem happens to be delayed in receipt of fund. This issue of time-lag seems more serious than the menace of corruption choking the trickling down of funds, since that is mostly avoidable.

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Using the technology to collect and disseminate information results in greater transparency leading to better performance. For instance fund transfers through mobile phones can be facilitated in the remote areas

• A logistic problem of synchronizing central and state government schemes:The SFC has limited but definite objectives here. The scope of the Gram Panchayat Management System, which is apparently advanced, is still limited in terms of how it is synchronized with the central and state government.

• Concluding remarks: (A progressive perspective on the backward regions) It is depressing that backward districts are essentially caught in some kind of poverty trap. Nothing is there so nothing happens. That is why media does not go there to report low grade starvation unless people start dying. Market has a good way to react to purchasing power; politics has a good way to react to grievances and sort of voices being raised. In this case when all that is not there, our collective energies should really be directed to this. Just appointing a committee and greater monitoring might not have a real bite. Taking the worst performer in lieu of the mean-performer, as our target, i.e., essentially a Rawlsian view of how to improve, since they seem to be in vicious circle, holds the key.

7.Prof. Achin Chakraborty, Director, IDS, Kolkata Taking cue from Prof. Maitreesh, on the distinction of Normative Economics and Political Economy, we should also add in the context of the PRI that moving towards the normative objectives, keeping in mind the interplay of political economy, should be practicable using some incentive –compatible mechanisms. However to pull off this, adequate empirical knowledge have to be available. Here is a procedural outlook in this context.

• Augmenting performance and supplementing data warehousing and report generation through endogenous participation from the grass-root level:

• In the CHCMI (Community Health Care Monitoring Initiative) program, for community health care, we had attempted to share some responsibilities of the local health sector with the PRI, which was fully regulated by the Line Department. The objective was to introduce information-sharing at the Panchayat level and to stress on the accountability of the line department. The approach was top-down but some steps were taken to implement an institutional mechanism by involving local activists and the NGOs to support the implementation locally. An active participation was observed from a substantial number of the Panchayats, and those obviously ended up formulating detailed reports.

• From the Kerala experience, clearly the People Plan campaign (1995-96) was a great success where more than nine hundred Panchayat Development reports were submitted. Although the Kerala story is often contended of being affected by single party’s political ambitions, but the reports does not support that view. How much of this success is due to the Government’s initiative and how much due to the people’s action is a matter of thought. The SFC should also check the viability of replicating such schemes here.

• The above analysis insinuates that success does not necessarily lie in the Government led top-down initiative but in putting equal emphasis on the complementary role of the initiatives from the grass root level. Thus for maintaining a data base , the role of P&RD Deptt., taking a top-down approach might not bear the fruit by itself, since the Form no. 27 ,which are supposed to be submitted by the PRI to validate their accountability, have never been adhered to. Designing monitoring in the local level shall take us closer to the goal but generating systematic efforts from the local level is a thing to reckon with. The fund utilization situation in WB is appalling, which cannot be directly modified by the SFC. What is important is the two mandates -

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narrow mandate and the broad mandate - of SFC, where narrow mandate takes the problem of grant and entitlement (measured by population, backwardness and the related indices) in its purview; the broad mandate involving the normative outcome is the most difficult part to fathom.

• Further decentralization of planning: The SFC has to encourage ‘District Planning Committees’ who may gainfully contribute to the planning process. The last three SFC failed to report and share apposite methodology and details of plan in the local level leading to failed synchronization.

• Knowledge Gap: The SFC reports have never defined the role of facilitators (which may involve local activists, NGOs) to support the PRI to manoeuvre the untied fund to “bridge critical gaps” between the allocated fund through a centrally sponsored scheme and the actual requirement. The PRI at their level has no expertise to strategize how and from where to utilize funds. The SFC ought to action on this

8.Prof. Biswanath Chakraborty, Rabindra Bharati University His personal recommendations are summed up in the following bullet points:

• Proper assessment of recommendations of all the previous SFCs, their actual implementations and shortcomings due to the economic, political or administrative constraints to envisage the plan of actions accordingly.

• The function should be the basis for the sharing of revenue among the Panchayats. The devolution of with respect to department has to be well planned.

• The existing laws of WB completely abides by the 11th and 12th schedule of the constitution hence no legal reform is necessary.

• The SFC should consider transferring the primary education (Class I to V) and primary health to the PRI’s jurisdiction.

• Proportion of backward population (Specifically SC, ST and OBC) in a Panchayats jurisdiction should receive fifty percent weightage and the fifty percent weight to total population figures in the area to determine the amount of revenue sharing. The provision for the OBC shall automatically ensure an inclusive approach towards the religious minorities, since a part of them has been registered into OBC.

• Incentive based funds are to be designed for strengthening the Panchayats. The criteria should be 1) Resource Mobilization (The previous SFCs only treated tax collection as the measure but the maintenance charge of the existing schemes have to be taken into account from now on), 2)Some indicator might be designed to scale the active and effective participation of the locals in the decision making process at the Panchayat level. This can be measured by attendance in Gram Samsads, extent of SC, ST and OBC representation, women representation there etc. 3) Performance audit mechanism also needs to be stringently imposed.

• Special Area Grants for the GTA and the Doors region is essential. Since the GTA has been perennially deprived as there is no PRI structure. The Dooars suffer from the Starvation problem but the NREGA or the hundred days work scheme is difficult to carry out due to absence of normal agricultural employment.

• Dissemination of Information for capacity building: The cognizance of the rural populace about the SFC, its functions, the revenue sharing rules and even the overall functionalities of the PRI is pitiable. The diffusion of this information is vital to safeguard the Panchayat-specific interests.

• To attain this, 1) Initially SFC should organize workshops at the district level with the active participation of the local representatives. 2) Once the rules are set, basic

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exhaustive training should be fully provided at the districts itself, since the participation in the training conducted at SIPID is meagre and inconsequential due the distance factor. Under the new statute of fifty percent reservation for women representatives in the local bodies, this distance issue is going to be more crucial.

• Strengthening the State Election Commission: The SFC should allocate more funds to SEC to warrant better infrastructure, own building, higher autonomy, which shall strengthen the democratic structure of the economy. The provision of direct budgetary allocation to SEC should also be considered by SFC, if feasible.

9.Prof. Sugata Marjit, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata Mandate of the SFC is well-specified in the constitution. The terms of reference of the new SFC are well specified .The objective of the meeting was to render the thoughts and ideas on the action points required to ensure the effective functioning of the SFC under these well-defined norms. In this summing up session the thoughts are arranged with the following arguments.

• Integration of the Schemes: Coordination problem due to an excess of disintegrated center and state sponsored schemes, already mentioned in earlier speeches, is a significant problem with the obvious consequence of complications hampering the implementation and a proper and full utilization of the funds allocated for a certain purpose or a project. Instances of the Insurance scheme under the labour-ministry being interfered and controlled by other Ministries or say the problem faced by State Planning Board for administering subsidies through separate schemes for the same project clearly brings forth the loss due to lack of much needed interconnectedness of the schemes. This task is non-trivial. For instance several ministries provide funds for NREGA evaluation scheme. But consolidating the grants is not feasible since the integration shall face resistance as the role and purpose of the ministry itself gets diluted. Similar issues are also there in the state level. Hence the feasibility of the integration and consolidation of the schemes have to be looked into, keeping the liberty and identity of the ministries in mind. The “first best strategies” are not directly implementable. This is related to political coordination problem also. To maintain the stability of the democratic governance, we have to compromise to some extent with the existing structures and come out with efficient but politically viable projects.

• What is the role of de facto SFC? If it only acts as an advisory body, there is fair chance of its reports being left stacked on the floor. To come out of these limitations to effectively contribute in institution building process the SFC has to deal with the political will and political coordination.

• Capacity building of the Panchayats: To attain Managerial efficiency at the Panchayat level, which is much required given that varied goals being set for Panchayats, more and better training programs need to be there. The SFC should have a detailed check if it has any significant role in district level trainings etc.

• Underutilization of the allocated funds: This is a contradictory situation given that the need for higher revenue collection and allocation to the local bodies being prescribed. Other than the Panchayats, all the Government schemes are to be scrutinized for this failure since the delay cost of the actual funds reaching the target with a considerable lag affects the projects. The bureaucratic rules of approving the “utilization certificates” before the fund is released, further delays the process. There is lack of initiation and awareness on the part of the officials to pursue the case has exacerbated the situation. Obviously the funds allocated in the account often reaches too late to have much impact. To ease this process, certain legal, case-specific and

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other issues have to be aptly dealt with. • This can be achieved in two steps. • Operational Efficiency: To check and ensure that given the rules and resources the

best we can perform. • How a radical change, something new can happen has to be considered. Prof.

Mookherjee has given today the most schematic view on what roles the SFC and the Panchayat could play. I would like to mention that in State planning body we reviewed the proportion of fund utilized by the ministries and reported that to the CMO.

• A reward and punishment: Strategy was designed accordingly where ministries were directly responsible for the utilization of funds. This carrot and stick strategy could not be implemented in the lower level due to lack of officials in those tiers. The SFC should venture forth to design such a mechanism to take care of this problem. This is going to be effective to find out whether the allocated amount is actually spent or not, and if not how to tackle that. Although it cannot be implemented at all the levels, the SFC can start with a monthly meeting in SFC on the extent of fund utilization to obtain operational insight. This will reveal the scope of where SFC can intervene and improve the situation. In the ambit of operational efficiency of fund utilization the SFC should get involved in the issues like BPL-APL targeting, JNNURM targeting etc.

• Performance Index for the Panchayat: To obtain a historical perspective on how the Panchayats have performed over time, a Performance Index is much needed. Clearly the performance of the Panchayat for the first ten to twelve years from its inception was arguably acceptable after which it sharply deteriorated which raises the possibility of an arbitrary structural-, break for political intervention or whatever reasons. Due to unavailability of panel data we fail to statistically compare the performance data. The large sample cross sectional studies (including studies at district levels) does not help much to evaluate the performance of any Panchayat over time. In this democratic structure, there being disincentive to get evaluated, there has been not much progress in this front. This index is much needed to capture the amount of fund devolution or the quantitative policy change due to rules or regime change. The index should also measure the financial performance of the Panchayats (not in the terms of mere monetary returns from the funds allocated but from the viewpoint of productivity gained through Public expenditure). We have to agree upon the set of yardstick of the indicators of Panchayats’ Performance which is a non-trivial exercise since there is scope of misrepresentation etc.

• Last but not the least, efforts on constructing and implementing a gender sensitive performance based index (instead of any deprivation based index) with the dependence on the extent of Public Expenditure at the Panchayat level is called for. The scope for Gender budgeting has to be evaluated under this consideration.

10.Prof. Vivekananda Mukherjee, Jadavpur University A few significant points which have been left out in the discussion so far are highlighted here.

• Ambiguity of Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti operations : They have similar set of functions and responsibilities. The SFC should investigate this overlap.

• Expenditure and tax assignment/mapping and financial reorganization - The revenue potential and tax mobilization of the local bodies have been

observed to be very poor. There are general formulas for tax and expenditure

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assignments to local bodies which depend on inter-jurisdictional externalities. - The expenditure on the areas which are very local in nature, with insignificant

inter-Panchayat externalities (e.g., Primary health, Primary education, solid waste-management etc.) should be completely under the jurisdiction of the local administrative level. By the same spirit, tax on immobile subjects should also be assigned to the Panchayat level. The land revenue, land being immobile, is still collected by the state government, which need to be bestowed upon the local bodies, after a much needed rejig of the land valuation. In presence of externalities the higher level of administration need to take the expenditure/ tax assignment problem under its purview.

- The SFC should consider if the Panchayats can be entitled to collect some new taxes, (say previously collected by state govt.) from the existing tax structure (e.g., Entertainment tax).

• Inclusion of new taxes: Indira Rajaraman’s ‘Fiscal domain of Panchayats’ advocates Agricultural income tax, which is successfully implemented in Kerala. The recent Mirrlees Report in the context of the U.K shows that taxes on the immobile factors should be received by the local bodies. The ‘Land Value Tax’ is strongly recommended in the report (land being perfectly inelastic has no efficiency impact).

• Impacts of Urbanization: Coordination issues within the Panchayats have already been discussed today. Keeping in mind the rapid urbanization leading to new ULBs being formed can raise myriad of externalities between and within the PRIs and ULBs, which needs to be addressed by some kind of District planning committee, which might or might not be there in the existing structure.

• Political Competition leading to lesser corruption and better performance: Yardstick competition at the Panchayat level should automatically have a highly significant role in the Panchayat level leading to efficient outcomes. Unfortunately this has not been observed in WB due to single party regime over most of the Panchayats.

• The local bodies enjoy some liberty in spending untied grants which are mostly meant for expenditures local in nature (not generating externalities), where corruption can easily creep in. Yardstick competition utilized in the form of peer-monitoring etc. helps to check corruption thus reducing the dependence on external audits. Maintaining and providing easily accessible data of the Panchayats would help to reach this goal.

• Creating an exhaustive database: The 13th Finance Commission report indicates the lack of sufficient data to render more meaningful recommendations at the Panchayat level. A systematic database of the Panchayat level should be designed and maintained with the help of media and information technology, to accomplish efficient decision-making in the future

2.00 Summary of Meetings with State Government Departments

Meeting with Municipal Affairs Department on 13.11.2013 at Commission’s Office at Bikash Bhavan, Salt lake, Kolkata. a) Since the majority of the ULBs of the State are suffering from financial crunch and there

is increasing demand of civic services from the citizens, the grant-in-aids, under 4th SFC which are untied in nature need to be increased considerably.

b) Allocation of fund: 13th Central Finance Commission in their recommendation has identified the criteria for allocation of fund on the basis of weightage on the population (50%), area (10%), distance from the highest per capita sectoral income (20%), index of

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devolution (15%), revenue effort by ULBs (5%). This may be considered while determining the entitlement matrix of each ULB

c) A number of projects like Water Supply, road, solid waste management, drainage and sewerage etc. have been commissioned under JNNURM and those are being handed over to the Urban Local Bodies for their maintenance, thus creating additional burden on the ULBs to maintain the operation & maintenance (O&M) of the created assets. A part of the 4th State Finance Commission funds may be earmarked for O&M.

d) The ratio of performance grant to the basic grant may be kept same as that of the 3rd State Finance Commission.

e) Separate criterion for hill ULBs may be envisaged for 4 municipalities situated within Darjeeling, Kalimpong & Kurseong Sub Divisions.

f) Since the financial conditions of the big ULBs are relatively better than that of the medium and small ULBs, separate recommendation for bigger town and also for the medium and smaller towns may help to resolve the issue.

g) It may be considered that presently in the State, no funding for running of Sishu Siksha Kendras (in all ULBs) and Community-based Health Services (52 municipalities)is provided by the Government of India. It may be considered that during the recommendation, the 4th State Finance Commission may look into the issue.

h) Special emphasis needs to be given for Capacity Building of Urban Local Bodies preferably for e-governance purpose.

i) It is observed that for the last few years, a considerable fund is being devolved to the ULBs but proper utilization of such fund has become major concern. Besides, due to limited man-power capacity of the Examiner of Local Accounts (ELA), regular audit in ULBs could not be held. It may be considered whether an alternate source of auditing like engagement of Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Cost Accountants may be recommended by 4th State Finance Commission so as to ensure effective internal audit mechanism.

j) Specific recommendation may be made for payment of property tax for the State Government properties to strengthen the financial health of the ULBs as well as to achieve the requirement target by the ULBs envisaged during JNNURM.

Meeting with Panchayats and Rural Development Department on 13.11.2013 at Commission’s Office at Bikash Bhavan, Salt lake, Kolkata i) Reacting to the presentation on the Draft Questionnaire prepared by the Commission the Representatives of the Panchayats & R.D. Deptt. felt that while most of the issues relating to income of the PRIs can be prefilled from the information available at the state level, information related to demand component of Taxes have to be collected from the GPs. ii) They also opined that the existing financial reporting formats do not have provisions for recording the amount being spent for ‘providing various services’ and ‘maintenance of common property resources’. These will have to be estimated by the local bodies concerned. iii) They further suggested that the Commission may consider commissioning studies based on sample local bodies to ascertain the actual amount required for these purposes, which may be used for validating the PRIs estimates. Meeting with Finance Department on 19.11.2013 at Commission’s Office at Bikash Bhavan, Salt lake, Kolkata i) Validity of the 3rd SFC expired on 31.3.2013. Finance Deptt. is making allocations to

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RLBs and ULBs in line with the 3rd SFC recommendations. ii)The Fourth SFC should accord approval to this arrangement iii) Finance Deptt. faces one major problem towards meeting demand for release of fund from State Exchequer towards huge dues by them on account of electricity charges of CESC and WBSEDCL beyond the recommendations of the State Finance Commission. Such situation occurs almost in every year. In this connection the need was stressed that the Commission should consider that certain percentage of Basic Grant that may be recommended for allocation to ULBs should be specifically earmarked for payment of electricity charges by the concerned ULBs to the concerned Utility Service Provider. 3.00 Some major reflections in the meetings with Panchayati Raj Institutions during field visit of the Commission

Meeting with Howrah Z.P. on 14.7.14 at Z.P.Office 1. The ZP didn’t have specific demarcation of roles in the matter of providing core services. Core services, according to them are to be provided by the GPs. Some intra GP and Intra PS activities are reportedly taken up by them. However they felt that the maintenance of Roads created under PMGSY are proving to be a huge burden. The maintenance cost is enhanced, as in many cases these are not taken up timely due to paucity of fund and as a result the costs go up. The untied funds being received by them are inadequate. 2. Peri-urban areas deserved additional untied funds and should be specially provided for. 3. Among the funds received from other departments, the flow from PHE is regular and is specifically meant for maintenance and sinking of tubewells. The funds from other departments do not have that kind of regularity. These are mostly placed when the departments feel the need to utilise the Zilla Parishad’s resources for spending the money. This aspect puts a strain on the human resources of the ZP, but availability of these funds provide some kind of financial flexibility to the Zilla Parishad and comes in handy to meet unforeseen contingency such as natural calamities. 4. The present strength of human resources is inadequate and there is need for more Gr. C and technical staff to cope with the work load. The technical wing of the ZP feels the strains as they are often required to vet technical projects of other departments also. No quantification of the staff requirement was presented. 5. Flow of untied funds specially the State and Central Finance Commission funds has not been very predictable. Hence plans are finalised only after the funds are received. 6. Certain percentage of Civil construction work of line Deptts. should be assigned to PRIs with certain limits of estimates. Meeting with South 24 Parganas Z.P. on 25.7.14 at Z.P.Office 1. Maintenance needs for roads and water sources are very high. As soon as a road is upgraded with a black top surface economic activities in the area increases considerably. The carrying capacity of goods vehicles has, of late, increased considerably. These roads are therefore being used by vehicles heavier than the ones the roads were designed to carry. Consequently the roads are damaged faster than initially expected and the contractors are reluctant to undertake the maintenance as per guarantee clause of the work order. This leads to a number of litigations and also increases the maintenance costs of the roads considerably. 2. New roads are also leading to new economic activities. Small business efforts of local entrepreneurs and traders are set up on the flank of these roads. The normal drainage flow of the area is affected by these activities and these also contribute to faster damage of the roads. Drainage is a major problem and the departmental road construction initiatives are not taking care to link up roads with drains.

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3. Sanitation programme provides enough money for building up the toilet but not for water supply to the toilets. The fund provided for solid waste management by NBA is around 20Lakhs, quite meagre compared to the actual requirement. 4. Source of Own revenue on which the ZP depends is also depleting fast, with new areas being added or being converted to urban bodies. 5. Consolidated Asset register is not being maintained. Hence actual need for maintenance cannot be accurately predicted. 6. The district authority welcomed earmarking portions of SFC funds for maintenance. They felt that if the total fund is left untied there will be tendency to utilise the whole of it for new projects, as these are expected to yield better political dividends compared to routine maintenance of existing infrastructure. Even political representatives welcomed the suggestion for earmarking funds for maintenance as they can take recourse to such restrictive clause to withstand pressures from the more articulate section for new projects. 7. The participants were unanimous that the support for maintenance is too meagre when compared to the number of programmes which takes care of creation of new assets. 8. The absence and gradual erosion of good internal audit arrangement is also increasing fiduciary risks in the local bodies. In south 24 Parganas district 17/29 posts of PAAOs are vacant, and there is only one SAAO in the whole district. 9. District Planning as an exercise is confined mostly to the untied funds received by the PRIs, such as BRGF, RIDF, 13th FC and SFC grants. Other departmental schemes / programmes/ activities in the district are generally not taken into account in drawing up the plans under these sources of fund. 10. One ZP member felt that the identity of the ZP needs to be determined properly. Given the size of the districts and complexity, the ZP should be considered as an unit of the state government rather than as a the top tier of the local bodies. It doesn’t really deliver any civic service on its own and plays more of a supervisory and monitoring role. Meeting with Hooghly Z.P. on 4.8.14 at Z.P.Office 1. Major sources of revenue are Ferry, Tourism Centers, Development Charges, and rent from bungalows and commercial complexes. The ZP doesn’t have a consolidated list of assets and hence may not be able to predict its maintenance needs accurately. By Laws are under preparation. Proposes introduction of a weigh bridge for assessing the load factor of vehicle using the roads being maintained by the ZP. 2. The activities taken up from the untied funds are mostly repair, maintenance and up-gradation of roads and some ‘boro-bandhs’. Boro-bandhs entail an annual recurring expenditure of Rs.2.5 crore during every Boro season. Farmers of Howrah and Hooghly Districts are benefited from this venture and near about Boro crop of Rs.350 crore is grown. Irrigation Department cannot spend this amount as this requires diversion of irrigation channels. This is normally taken up from the SFC grants. Requires permanent solutions. Works like street lightings, drainage and sewerage are reportedly done by all three tiers. In absence of a proper asset register it seemed they couldn’t make accurate predictions of either funds required for items listed as core services. Quantification won’t be easy. 3. Asset Register is not being maintained properly. One of the Karmadhyaks has opined that the land has not been handed over to the ZP with the assets. For example the land on which tourism centre being run by the ZP in New Digha is not owned by them. 4. Maximum attention is currently being focussed on the Road sector. However 45% of the rural areas are now covered with the piped water supply. Constructions of roads are damaging the water supply system considerably. ZP doesn’t have enough skilled manpower to maintain and repair the water supply system. They need to approach the PHE who take a very long time to attend to the problem and common people suffer in the process. NBA

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doesn’t provide funds for drainage and as such these are not attended to adequately. Drainage is a must for areas where new markets are being set up but there is no such prescribed standard. Line Deptts. do not inform ZP regarding the works being executed by them. 4. The ZP feels that special provisions should be made for peri urban areas. No suggestions on what these provisions should be and how these should be assessed. 5. On Human resource they feel that the present sanctioned strength is inadequate, but didn’t have any specific suggestions on the additions and modification required. Lack of skills in handling computers was identified to be a major skill gap. Of the 89 sanctioned staff in the Zilla Parishad 45 posts were vacant. The largest number of vacancies was in the category of Gr. D (14/25), followed by LDA (7/10) and Assistant Engineer (8/13) and SAE (4/9). They propose to impose a 7.5 % service charge in respect of works from other departments. Non-functioning of the local irrigation department creates a pressure on the ZP. They suggested introduction of a post of electrical engineer, a system analyst, and the post of a Law Officer. 6. Flow of CFC and SFC fund is not predictable and hence affects utilisation of the same timely and systematically. Meeting with North 24 Parganas Z.P. on 08.08.14 at Z.P.Office 1. Own Resource generation – The Own source fund is from Lease of Tanks and Ferry ghats, Rent of Market complex – buildings – auditoriums – guest houses and selling of tender forms. One predicament being faced by them is that if the base prices of ferry ghat & Tanks are increased by 10% every year, very few bidders come forward to participate. If they don’t there is audit objection at many levels. Statement of own source fund presented indicate that in 2013-14 the ZP had earned Rs. 2,44,32,357.00 as own source revenue. They propose to conduct surveys to assess the revenue potential of ferries, fish production in tanks. They have also started maintaining a vigil on the rural areas on construction of buildings without due clearance from the ZP’s end. How this is being done was not made clear to the Commission. 2. Asset Register – Maintains lists of Ferry ghats, Tanks, buildings including hospital and charitable dispensaries and roads. The ZP functionaries however were not sure whether the list being maintained by them is an exhaustive one. They have also obtained from each BL & LRO a list of landed properties, block-wise but are not sure if these cover all the assets. A total of 2356 Acres of land are reportedly owned by the ZP. There are 17 dispensaries of which only three are functioning and the rest are unutilised. A lion’s share of the OSR is from development fees (RS. 1.30 Cr out of 2.44 Crore in 2013-14), but since new municipalities are proposed to be created in many of the urbanised areas, this source is likely to dry up. Getting the assets professionally evaluated by a valuer might pose a problem according to the DM, as the Auditor would then start insisting on a specific return against a property of a certain value. 3. Perception of functionaries about the role of ZP – Not very clear as expected. Schemes are selected by different Sthayee Samitis and implemented if funds are available. 4. The ZP tries to follow the thumb rule of taking up Inter PS roads only but this principle is not uniformly adhered to. 5. On solid and liquid waste management they have started a project on a pilot basis at Rajarhat – Bishnupur II GP of Rajarhat Block with funding from NBA and 12th FC. Kowgachhi GP of Barrackpore-I Block has started a SLWM project from its own resources.SLWM is about to be initiated in Guma-I, Rajibpur Bira (Habra II) and Ichhapur (Gaighata). Land has been identified. Land for infrastructures like ICDS etc. is not a problem. They suggested that SFC grants may be permitted to be used for purchasing land for such infrastructure. 6. Peri-Urban areas: The ZP felt that Peri Urban rural areas should be provided with

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additional funding as their requirement of infrastructure is of a higher order. They suggested that population per square kilometre should be a criteria in the index for devolution by the SFC. 7. Human Resources of the ZPs need to be reviewed. There is a shortage of Engineers. The ZP should also have its own electrical Engineering wing with at least one AE in Each ZP, and one SAE for a cluster of GP. The ZP suggested increasing the number of Sub Assistant Engineers, abolishing the posts of typists and replacing the post with data entry operators, Creating a common cadre of the posts of stenographers, reserving 20% of the posts in the cadre of LDA for filling up by promotion from Gr D and introducing a Transfer policy. They also requested for creation of a post of Law Officer. 8. Flow of untied funds such as SFC, CFC etc are not very predictable, This disrupts the work plans since no action can be initiated till such time the fund arrives. 9. Account Keeping: The Receipt and payment account of SARAL gives only a partial picture of the fund actually received and payments actually made. 10. Internal Audit is extremely irregular. Meeting with Nadia Z.P. on 19.8.14 at Circuit House 1. Own source Revenue – The ZP has an annual predictable source of income of around Rs. 60 lakhs from rent of market complex shops, office buildings; Lease rent of Ferry ghat (18/20), 12 Tanks, and House Rent from Staff Quarters. Another Rs.40 lakhs generally come from somewhat unpredictable sources such as mela licenses, vetting charges, rent from meeting hall, rent from dak bungalow and rent from Rabindra Bhaban at Ranaghat. General impression was that there is not much of an urge to increase OSR. However they consider that in the coming days vetting charge will emerge as a major source of income. They felt that there should be a clear protocol on the fate of the assets of Zilla Parishad after a rural area becomes a municipality. The statutory provision in this behalf needs to be reviewed. 2. They reportedly maintain an asset register – though not presented before the Commission 3. The presentations made by the ZP mention a “persistent gap between the defined role and work assigned to the elected representatives”. 4. On the issue of providing core services they claimed to follow some kind of principle of subsidiarity. The main activities considered as core services of Zilla Parishad include construction and maintenance of roads, water supply under Sajaldhara schemes. Street lights are mainly provided by development authorities, municipalities, GPs and PS. However the ZP arranges for lights in Ferry ghats, markets etc.; For sanitation the Nadia Zilla Parishad has introduced an innovative project named “Sabar Souchagar” by converging NBA and MGNREGA. The source of funds for construction works includes RIDF (for roads and bridges), SFC funds, 13th FC funds, PMGSY, BADP and MSDP. Apart from the funds under 13th FC all the funds are mostly used for new construction. For example there are 110 KMs of PMGSY roads in Nadia that are already beyond the maintenance warranty period. ZP is contemplating to impose toll tax on PMGSY and RIDF roads which are beyond maintenance warranty period. The NBA provides for a sum of Rs. 20 lakhs for setting up a solid and liquid waste management system. The district has initiated a pilot project for SLWM at Tatla GP of Chakdaha Block and the approximate recurring cost is coming to around Rs. 2000-2500 per month. Nadia is an arsenic prone district, and there needs to be greater utilisation of surface water

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sources. Another major problem Nadia faces is erosion of river banks. While the problems of districts like Malda and Mushidabad get highlighted, Nadia District’s plights are not accorded much publicity by the media. District Magistrate felt that there should be mandatory provisions for cleanliness, mobilisation of own resources, imposition of fees for maintenance of roads. Very little can be done unless own funds collection increases. 5. Fund flow is not predictable. The district has not received the 3rd SFC fund during 2012-13. 6. Peri-Urban according to them deserves special provisions. 7. Even though it stretches their human resources a bit, they consider executing works assigned by other departments a helpful process, as it enables them to earn some amount varying from 3-5% of the value of work. 8. Human resources: they opined for creation of an Electrical Engineering wing. There should be at least one AE (Electrical) at ZP level. The vetting power of the engineers including that of DE (at present vetting power Rs.45 lakh) should also be enhanced. There is a District Information Analyst (DIA), but given the increasing emphasis on digitisation, a System Analyst needs to be posted. ZP also needs a server of its own. The GPMS system is supported by only one data entry operator. The Core IT wing of the Parishad consists of a DIA and a Computer Assistant. Contractual Staff are engaged under different projects to keep the system running. The Engineering Department needs at least two Auto CAD knowing personnel. 9. Record keeping according to them is still very primitive. Digitisation and modernisation of the process is necessary. Meeting with Purba Medinipur Z.P. on 26.8.14 at Z.P. Office 1. Own source : Mainly from mela licence, lease of ferry ghat, margin money for evacuation of fly ash pond of Kolaghat Thermal Power Project (KTPP) , occupation fee of ZP land, vetting charges (0.5%), hire charges of road rollers, fees from Panskura Station Bazar etc. 2. There is no revenue collection from Industrial belt of Haldia and Tourism belt of Digha, Mandarmani and Sankarpur. ZP has taken steps to amend bye-law to enhance OSR and to introduce new software device for tracking of ZP land for ultimate use. They contemplate to impose toll tax on vehicles plying through PMGSY and BRGF roads for augmentation of maintenance fund for road repair. 3. They reportedly maintain an Asset Register. 4. Untied fund are generally used for creation of new assets. It is mainly utilised to meet up critical gaps of funding, identified during the process of execution of several schemes. 5. The soil condition in this district is different and rainfall is very high. These factors are responsible for early damage of the roads so built. So maintenance cost on roads schemes is reportedly very high. 6. There are many low lying areas in this district. Flood occurs due to non excavation of existing canal system by I&W department during last 10 to 15 years so reported by them. ZP has no capacity to bear huge excavation as well as to replace damaged wooden bridges by pucca one over canal system of I&W department. 7. Haldia Development Authority (HDA) executes roads schemes in good numbers and provides fund to PR bodies for street light schemes. 8. CFC and SFC fund flow is not predictable and there is considerable delay for allocation of fund by the authority. 9. Account keeping is mostly computerised. 10. They opined that the ZP needs its own building to function properly. Meeting with Burdwan Z.P. on 28.8.14 at Z.P. Office

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1. OSR mainly from Lease Rent of ferry ghat; Rent from Dak/Inspection bungalow, market complex, building and land; proceeds from ZP press, interest and loan given to employees and earnest money; hire charges of rollers, Cess Grant from Government etc. They stated that the ZP did not receive any Cess Grant from Government after 2012-13. Total OSR collections during 2013-14 are Rs.3.05 crore. 2. Asset Register is maintained at Section Office level. 3. Tier wise ownership of roads is under preparation by ZP. 4. Special problem of Peri-Urban areas:- i) land subsidence is a great problem in Mining Areas of Asansol region, ii) sand filling is needed in abandoned Mines, iii) water bodies in abandoned Mines pose a great problem, iv) illegal activities are prevalent in factories, but there is only one Factory Inspector having workload of three districts to address the problem. They plead for appointment of more Factory Inspectors, v) pollution caused by industries in Asansol and Durgapur region is a great problem due to poor monitoring mechanism of Pollution Control Board. 5. They opined that:-i) for SWM, transport and dumping of garbage is a must on realisation of nominal fee of Rs.1 to 2 per household; ii) western region of the district comprises mostly barren and fallow land which require much attention for taking up land reclamation work for optimum utilisation of land in productive activities, iii) OSR and deposit work fund should be allowed to be kept in Bank accounts in order accrue interest from such fund; iv) Video Conferences are being done regularly with the BDOs to monitor development works and they use ‘Whatsapp’ service for quick communication and to take action thereof. 6. They stated that there is vacancy of 52 posts against sanctioned strength of 133. Meeting with Bankura Z.P. on 9.9.14 at Circuit House 1. Own source: leasing ponds, stalls, rest house, hiring out road rollers, printing press, vetting charge (0.25%), mela license fees. Own fund is declining over the years. Own fund reduced from Rs.103.02 lakh in 2009-10 to Rs.55.22 lakh in 2012-13and Rs.21.32 lakh in 2013-14. 2. As regards principle of subsidiarity, they said that roads and bridges are constructed by the ZP, drains are mostly constructed by GP and PS. 213 pay and use toilets have been set up by the ZP and maintained by PS. 2. Line Departments have good coordination with standing committees. 3. Fund flow is not predictable. They said that BRGF funds, once missed, would debar the district totally for that year. They also proposed for increase of vetting power of DE. 4. Accounts should be maintained in accrual basis. Talking of the problems of the existing system, the FA and CAO of the ZP said that the Fund transfer accounts component of IFMS posts the same amount twice. 5. One of the Karmadhakshyas opined that agriculture in Khatra and Bankura Sub-division is not developed because of the undulating surface. Such undulating surface does not make irrigation feasible. He stressed the need for construction of more check dams/tanks/bandhs for facilitating irrigation for agricultural production. Meeting with Purulia Z.P. on 10.9.14 at Z.P.Office 1. Sources of own revenue: i) realisation of vetting charges(excepting GP and PS), (ii) Lease rent of tanks/bundhs/hat/markets, (iii) Rent from Purulia Bhavan, Office building, meeting hall. Further ZP contemplates to enhance OSR from the following sources:- i) share of rent from PSs from ZP market complexes handed over to them, ii) building plan – but there are not enough high rises in the district, iii) collection of toll tax on roads,

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Interest on fund transfer account is also a major source of OSR. Bye law has already been framed. 2. DM feels that a huge amount would have to be committed to maintenance. Road maintenance should not be the core function of the representatives. SFC fund should not be tied and the PRIs should be able to use it in whichever way they like. 3. Suggestions on subsidiarity of work - work requiring more expertise should be done by ZP; definition should be based on technical complication of the work. There should not be earmarked limit of fund for scheme implementation by GP/PS/ZP as distinction relates to what type of job to be implemented. Less technical work should be done by GP. 4. Given the computer literacy expected from the Pradhan under MGNREGA, the possibilities of leakage is increasing considerably. They suggested creation of finance cum accounting executive post at Gram Panchayat given the complexity of the work at the GP level at present. 5. Panchayat Samiti level engineering set up also need to be augmented with the posting of AE. 6. Staffing pattern – Work assistant, storekeepers’ etc posts should be abolished and in lieu technical posts should be created to cope with the current pattern of work at ZP. Posts like UDA, LDA etc. also can be renamed. Gr. Ds work is not defined. These posts need to be redefined. Outsourcing of some of the service related functions viz. sweeping, cleaning, security would be helpful. The ZP needs a legal cell like that of the DM’s office. 7. Funds are not always predictable. Conditions of allotment are not always successfully met. Much of the fund, being shown as balance in IFMS, is left over funds of old schemes. 8. Internal audit is in a poor shape and almost not taking place regularly. Meeting with Paschim Medinipur Z.P. on 13.10.14 at Z.P. Office 1. OSR: Mainly from rent of guest house, meeting hall, lounge, auditorium, Prodyut Smriti Bhavan; rent from ferry ghat, market; vetting charge (0.5%) and fees from building plan etc. OSR collection is Rs.2 crore on an average per annum. 2. Principle of Subsidiarity is followed as per technical capacity of the respective tier of the PRIs. Whenever there is any problem Sabhadhipati intervenes. They opined that the 4th SFC should define the matter specifically. 3. They opined that the ZP should be allowed to introduce service charges from the industrial units using the ZP roads in order to augment maintenance fund for repair of roads. 4. Midnapur Kharagpur Development Authority (MKDA) operates in 14 GPs and two Municipalities. They alleged that the MKDA authority does not coordinate with the ZP in respect of schemes to be taken up by them. 5. They claimed that the gap between Budget/Plan an actual receipt of fund is around 40%. 6. There are no Bank branches in 70 GPs of the district which cause enormous trouble to concerned PRIs as regards financial transaction. They opined for immediate solution to this problem. ZP authority uses to allocate fund directly to GPs instead of channelizing the same through Panchayat Samities. 7. There is huge shortage of staff at Block level causing hindrance for proper execution of schemes. 8. ZP’s own funding being Rs.2 crore per year is not sufficient to address the gap and so they plead for more fund from 4th SFC as well as additional fund for the Peri-Urban areas towards taking up civic services viz. street light, public toilet etc. Meeting with Murshidabad Z.P. on 27.10.14 at Z.P.Office 1. Flow of untied fund to ZP – Flow of funds depends on utilisation. This district is reported to have lost a lot of entitled fund earlier owing to problems related to approval of budget. The district is still behind schedule in receiving the fund. 2. Asset register - details of landed property yet to be prepared. An attempt was made in

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2009-10 to prepare an asset register through a private agency. Reportedly land available at Pakamati. The ZP has leased land for constructing a godown for jute. But there is not an exhaustive Asset Register for the purpose. 3. No clear demarcation of the roles of the different tiers. Inter PS and technically complicated projects are generally taken up by ZP. Suggested that the Commission should allocate specific funds for maintenance of existing assets. 4. They felt that peri-urban areas should be provided special support. 5. Funds from other Departments - Funds were placed with the ZP following flood. But the trend has been discontinued after 2004. Only some departments are placing funds with the ZP for deposit work (ARD, HANDLOOM etc.) Coordination with other departments is reportedly poor. They stressed the need to arrest erosion of river banks. 6. Human Resource: 97 staff out of 137 available at present. The staff structure itself needs to be reviewed. Computer knowing personnel, engineers etc are specially required. As of now ZP engages casual employees to meet up this skill requirement. Abolition of some posts may be considered for creating new posts. 7. Role of Para- Statals: They complained that coordination of line Deptts. such as School Education, I&W, PWD, Forest with respective Standing Committees is inadequate. Officials of these line Deptts. are reluctant to attend the meetings of Sthayee Samities. 8. General decision making process: generally such decisions are taken only after receipt of funds. 9. On maintenance of accounts they opined that IFMS software show inflated figures and hence is not very reliable in assessing financial position at a glance. 10. Audit: Some Paras are pending since 2007-08. Sometimes Audit leaves without holding Exit conference. Meeting with Dakshin Dinajpur Z.P. on 15.1.15 at Z.P.Office 1. Own Source of Revenue: Vetting charge, Rent of Guest House, Market Shops, Hiring out of Road Rollers license fees, Sale Proceeds etc. Total OSR collection during 2013-14 is Rs.87.56lakh. 2. Monthly expenditure for office maintenance needs to be reimbursed by the state government. Suggests 40% fixed allocation for maintenance. 3. Overlapping of works. DM suggests that no work below 5 lakh should be done by ZP. For contiguous blocks proportionate work should be done by the respective administrative blocks. 4. DM also suggests that the tendency of dividing all funds equally, according to the no. of elected members should be discouraged. 5. Peri- urban area needs special consideration. 6. Predictability of fund is still a problem. 7. Decision making process- Although there are shelves of schemes prioritisation is a problem, and takes about 15-30 days time to arrive at a decision. 8. There is a gap between activities planned and fund received. On an average the shortfall is around Rs. 5.00 crore in addition to existing funds. 9. No internal audit held after 2005-06. Meeting with Uttar Dinajpur Z.P. on 16.1.15 at Z.P.Office 1. Have constituted a sub-committee to revise the rates of own source revenue. Rents of Guest House, Road Roller, Security Deposit, Licence Fee, Lease Value, Vetting Charge etc. are sources of Own Revenue. House building and motor cycle loans are given to the employees of the ZP from OSR fund and in turn obtain interest on such loans which is treated as OSR income. They also propose to set up a drinking water bottling plant (like Raigunj Municipality), a printing press and Uttar Dinajpur Bhaban at Kolkata.

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2. They reportedly maintain an Asset Register. 3. DM stated that there is no mechanisms to cross check the duplication of schemes being taken up by different tiers of Panchayats. Given the number of schemes, there has to be automatic software based system to check the schemes, and eliminate the duplicate ones. 4. 34 posts of Officers and staffs are vacant since 2005-06. ZP engaged 8 SAEs and 2 AEs on contractual basis to cope with the load of work. 5. No internal audit held after 2007-08. Meeting with Malda Z.P. on 17.1.15 at Z.P.Office 1. They are apparently not receiving funds from other departments for the last three four years. This, however, according to Commission did not seem to be fully correct since MSDP etc are still being implemented through the ZPs. 2. Non participation of contractors in tender processes is a problem. 3. Inadequate fund for maintenance works is a major problem. Maintenance of Accounts is also problematic. Assets created by ZP are not on record. Hence they have a problem for quantifying the demands. They requested for funds to construct their own building in their own land located a little away from the town. 4. They also propose to construct its own building in Kolkata like other districts of North Bengal. 5. River erosion is a problem. ZP is helpless with the problem. They complained that Central Government and state Government funds for arresting river erosion are being spent only in areas of Murshidabad district. Banks of Mahananda from Khorba in Chanchol to Malda town area are extremely vulnerable and people expect the Zilla Parshad to take some action. 6. Opinion of Adhyaksha of district council: i) Maintenance of old roads is a problem. ii) PMGSY roads are being constructed by three agencies. The permissible rates are not profitable for the contractors. These rates need revision. iii) The Zilla Parishad office also needs to be shifted. 7. They observed that the line departments are not accountable to ZP and do not consult the ZP on various issues. 8. Many health sub centres are in hired premises. These need to be shifted to government premises. 9. Karmadhakshya Shiksha mentioned the problem of inadequate number of teachers. 10. District Engineer stated that scheme registers are being maintained in a scattered manner. A central software need to be developed for keeping them in a standard manner. 11. Karmadhakshya, Shishu-O-Nari Unnayan, Janakalyan-O-Tran Sthayee Samiti complained that she has neither funds nor works and the ZP apparently has no role.Various pensions etc. are not being allocated in consultation with the ZP. 12. Karmadhakshya, Bon-O-Bhumi Sanskar Sthayee Samiti feels that he has no role at all and considers himself in a meaningless position.

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Meeting with Coochbehar Z.P. on 5.2.15 at Z.P. Office 1. ZP doesn't impose any vetting charge at present as told by the DM that ‘no Government to Govt. vetting charge can be imposed from the year 2013-14.’ Other engineering departments have also stopped taking vetting charge. Line department’s engineers have also been authorised by the government to vet development projects of PRI bodies. There is reportedly an order of the Chief Secretary. 2. Renewal fee and license fee of contractors and suppliers have also been discontinued. This has happened following introduction of e-tender. Service charge is also not being allowed. 3. The ZP has no ferry ghat, dak-bungalow under its control. 4. The ZP is not aware of its entitlement under the finance commission grants, and hence could not comment on whether they have received as per their entitlement. Proposal of Karmadhakshyas and Members: i) ZP faces problem due to shortage of engineers. ii) There are 20 urbanised GPs in the district where 100 days work scheme may not be possible, so separate fund allotment are necessary iii) Community latrine funds are inadequate. iv) Specification (Schedule of rates by PWD) towards preparing estimates for construction of village roads needs to be changed and enhanced. v) For Solid waste management dumping ground is not available. Availability of land is the main problem 5) General complaints against the certain line departments is that they implement their programmes without consulting the Sthayee Samiti. Joint meeting with Jalpaiguri & Alipurduar Z.Ps on 6.2.15 at Jalpaiguri Z.P. Office 1. OSR:-Rent from Shopping complex and guest house, vetting charges, collection of fees from haats, licence fee etc. 70% of OSR income comes from Rural haats. Western Dooars Development Fund pertaining to haats has been inherited by the undivided Jalpaiguri ZP along with the staff (Haat Muhorior). The personnel of the haats are retiring. Salary for this category was paid by the government. This cadre is dyeing one and no alternative arrangements have yet been made. This has led to fall of revenue from the haat. After bifurcation of the district recently 20 haats are with Alipurduar ZP and 30 with Jalpaiguri ZP. 2/3 rd of the income from haats will accrue to Alipurduar as the Haats under their control are major ones. 2. Loss of revenue from enlistment panel of contractors due to introduction of e-tendering process. Vetting charge has gone up considerably. (Unlike Coochbehar ,this Zilla Parishad is realising the vetting charge.) 3. PWD schedule was changed in 2013-14. Technical skill of engineers of PS and GP is not adequate to use this schedule. So, the joint meeting of both the ZPs proposed a simpler scheduling protocol for the PRIs. Highlighting the problem with the new schedules, the district engineer observed the following - i) river bed material spreading and rolling has been totally taken off from the current PWD schedule, ii) the road schedule does not mention nominal mix at all and stressed the need for design mix. The AEO stated that the vetting power of DE is not enough to cater to the present level of expenditure and needs enhancement. Superintendent engineers’ services need to be made available with the ZP and for this purpose a post of Superintendent engineer should be created covering jurisdiction

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upto 2 to 3 ZPs. 4. The roads are not officially earmarked in favour of any particular tier of local body. 5. Since last year the BRGF allocations seems to have been changed. Concentration of SC ST is being given additional weight. They feel that the ratio for Panchayat Samiti needs to be reviewed. 6. The DM, Jalpaiguri suggested that a lower limit of the estimated amount may be fixed in respect of schemes to be executed by the ZP and the ZP should be empowered to divert funds from non- functioning GPs. 7. Schemes from other departments - these are mostly in nature of execution on behalf of other departments. They didn't impose any service charge on them earlier, but proposes to do it from next year. 8. Sometimes they prepare DPRs of projects which are not sanctioned ultimately. Last year they prepared DPRs of about Rs.36 lakhs for RIDF projects of other departments, most of which were not sanctioned resulting loss of revenue. Sanctioning Authority of RIDF projects does not reimburse cost for preparation of DPRs. 9. Human resource – needs one SE for covering 2 to 3 ZPs/ Field workers for Haat maintenance/one AE at PS level/one Law Officer and land related Officer with Amin. Skill development training for ZP personnel needs to be arranged. 10. Role of Para Statals - ZP doesn't have much control over the para Statals. Licensing of saw mills by forest department is an instance. Similarly, water supply schemes or sinking of tube wells are being decided unilaterally by PHE Deptt. SJDA does not consult the ZP on schemes being taken up by them. Very often they take up the up-gradation of roads originally built by ZP. They do not allot any fund to ZP. 11. Alipurduar ZP has not yet been able to open accounts for untied fund. The blocks in that ZP are still being allotted funds by DM Jalpaiguri, while she doesn't have any specific control over the implementing bodies there. 12. Alipurduar district was constituted eight months back but important posts are yet to be manned. Alipurduar ZP has newly been created and so it needs a lot of infrastructure development for setting up of various district level offices of line departments. Meeting with Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad on 7.2.15 at Mahakuma Parishad’s Office 1. OSR:-Main sources of revenue are rent of guest houses, meeting halls, office space; vetting charges (0.5%), toll collection from roads and bridges. Revenue had gone down in 2012-13 and 2013-14 as they did not have a stable board OSR picked up during 2014-15 and the collection figure is Rs.38.45 lakhs. 2. Irregular fund flow from the Government. They received Fifty percent of second allotment of SFC grants for 2012-13 in June 2014. 3. Long decision making process affects expenditure 4. Non predictability of fund flow affects timely decision. 5. Disposal of garbage is a huge problem in peri urban areas adjacent to Siliguri (mainly Matigara Block area). Many multi storied building are being constructed without permission.

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The act is silent on violation of the provisions of Panchayat Act. Sometimes permission is granted by SJDA under the T&CP Act. 6. Nakshalbari GP has dues of Rs. 35 lakhs of electricity bill for street light. 7. DM Darjeeling is of the view that there should be Panchayat bodies in the Hill areas, without which development needs of the Hill people cannot be properly taken care of. DM also opined that like SMP other 3 Hill Sub-divisions should also have Mahakuma Parishads. He also suggested that SFC should work out indexes for all bodies. Meeting with Birbhum Z.P. on 27.3.15 at Z.P. Office 1. OSR:-Mainly from Rent of Guest House, Market, Shops; Fees from Mela Licence, tolls on Road, Lease Rent of Parking area. They started to collect vetting charges from 2013-14. OSR collection is around Rs. 1.45 crore during 2013-14. 2. ZP maintains Asset Register so reported. 3. They opined for filling up of vacancies in engineering section and stressed the need to appoint System Manager for IT related works of Zilla Parishad. 4. Sabhadhipati stated that they are worried about discontinuation of 14th FC grant to Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samities. He also stated that BRGF fund will not be available to any tier of PRIs in this district hence onwards. He explained that as a backward district Birbhum ZP has to shoulder a lot of burden which includes roads, housing, drainage etc. He expressed hope that replenishment of 14th CFC fund loss would be look into properly by the 4th SFC. 5. The District Magistrate also stated that the ZP requires Rs.400 lakh per year towards construction and maintenance of roads alone. He explained that own fund generation by ZP is very limited and the ZP is dependent on government grants. Loss of 14th CFC and BRGF grants will be a huge pressure on ZP and he expects replenishment of the loss from 4th SFC. Meeting with Bankura-I Panchayat Samiti on 9.9.14 at Panchayat Samiti Office 1. Fund flow is irregular. 2. PS own source revenue is increasing. Bye law has already been amended and is in operation. 3. Leprosy patients of Gouripur hospital have been engaged in orchard cultivation using NREGA resources. The PS has a tie up with HRBC for entertainment park development. 4. Two following unique social assistance programmes have been initiated from OSR of PS:- Pushti - supplementary nutrition for SAM children through ICDS programme. Prayas- DOTS and supplementary nutrition for TB patients. 5. There is irregularity in receiving the fund. The initial GO doesn't spell out the entitlement. 6. Asset registers not being maintained. 7. No strict principle of subsidiarity is followed. 8. PS is setting up street lights, bills being paid from their own fund. 9. They proposed that Peri urban areas should be provided special grants. In general, fund should be placed with PS. 10. Staff shortage is a problem. They propose for appointment of (i) one SAE (Electrical) at PS level and (ii) one Law Officer at DPRDO level. 11. The vetting power of SAES needs to be enhanced to Rs.8 lakhs. 12. On some occasions funds for other implementing agencies are routed through Block, especially for schools. Not much of accountability of those implementing agencies noticed by the PS. 13. Record keeping is not in a happy shape. 14. Block should have an administrative complex accommodating all Block level offices. 15. IFMS - scheme details not available in the software. Scheme specific activities not available in the package. Provision for scheme details may be incorporated in the software. Meeting with Hura Panchayat Samiti on10.9.14 at Panchayat Samiti Office

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1. It’s a rural Block with female literacy as 41.2% and total literacy as 59%. 2. Own fund: Predictable income- rent from buildings, community hall, market complex; trade license for dangerous and offensive trades. Unpredictable income- mela license, vetting charge, sale of tender papers. All sources together amount to Rs. 6 to 7 lakh annually. 3. No Asset Register is maintained. Panchayat Samiti informed that they are not in the habit of routinely keeping track of maintenance needs of their assets and infrastructures. 4. They have installed street lights and Hura GP collects the charges from the users, but the amount collected is never equal to the bill raised by WBSEDCL. Manguria-Lalpur GP Pradhan said that they do not collect any charge from the users but pays the bill from its own resources as because the beneficiaries are reluctant to pay the charges. 5. They have constructed a community hall with furnished rooms on 1st floor and a meeting hall in the ground floor. 5 such halls have been constructed by the panchayat Samiti. Out of these 5 halls around Rs. 3 lakh income is generated annually from two halls. Remaining 3 halls are yet to generate any income. One hall has been leased out to a GP for taking care of its maintenance. These buildings have been constructed over the last 6/7 years. 6. Fund flow is not predictable. Sometimes even unexpected funds are received, such as performance grant under 13th FC. They opined for construction of check dams to boost agriculture production. 7. From the statement of the budget, it seems that the Budget estimate for 2012-13 is about Rs. 4 crore which is less than that of previous year. 8. None of the GP Pradhans, or the members of the Panchayat Samiti had any idea about the role and functions of the State Finance Commission. 9. Delay in receiving funds under NREGA is a major problem. Meeting with Beldanga-I Panchayat Samiti on 28.10.14 at Panchayat Samiti Office 1. Has no regular source of own fund. Charge a fee for technical vetting. Sale of tender paper is the biggest source of OSR. Rent from guest house is another source of income. Total income was around Rs. 8 lakh in 2012-13 2.There are a large number of illegal brick fields running in the area. The PS cannot raise any funds from them but these are continuing to run. For dangerous and offensive trade the ceiling amount may be raised. 3. Total untied fund was around Rs.89.5 lakhs during 2012-13 of which Rs.5 lakh was OSR. 4. Untied funds are not predictable. BRGF or any other entitlement is not known to the members or functionaries. 5. Has no other land related assets, apart from a market complex and guest house. 6. Generally schemes below Rs 5 lakh are taken up by PS. Schemes above that are sometimes taken up by the PS subject to clearance of the ZP. GPs generally execute schemes having estimates between Rs.2 to 3 lakh. 7. In sanitation, focus is mostly on individual household latrines which are constructed by the PS. Drains are also constructed. 8. They feel that additional funds should be allotted to peri urban areas based on population density and infrastructure needs of the area. 9. Approval of standing committee is taken by the line departments. 10. There are three vacant posts in the PS viz. Cashier cum Store Keeper, Accountant, Samiti Education Officer. 11. MSDP funds, though placed with the block are utilised with the help of block personnel. 12. According to BDO, the activities of the GP are not supervised by the Block personnel due to pressure of Block level departmental works. 13. Roughly about 80% of the fund flow is predictable. PS incurred total expenditure of Rs.17 crore during 2013-14.

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14. Problem of SARAL: the state appointed facilitators are not always available on call. Sometimes the waiting lag is as long as two months. They request for increasing the number of facilitators at the end of Service Provider. 15. A disaster management cell has been created since 2005 under the statute. The BDMO has no equipment to deal with the disaster. Disaster Management is also not included in the annual action plan. No contingency fund or equipment is available with the PS. All that the PS gets for disaster management is relief materials. 16. They opined that the Record Keeping is good and Audit is updated. Meeting with Maynaguri Panchayat Samiti on 6.2.15 at Panchayat Samiti Office 1. Statement of Pradhan Maynaguri GP: – Out of 23 Sansads 12 are urban in nature and this GP is Non-ISGP. Feels deprived in respect of untied funds. For Street lights there are 2000 electric points. Maintenance cost including electricity bills is Rs.10- 12 lakhs per anum and uses own fund to settle the entire expenditure. So not in a position to invest OSR fund for other works. Out of 7665 assesses only 1775 tax-payers pay taxes during the last Financial year. Valuation exercise started. OSR collection ranges from Rs.10 to 12 lakh per anum. The GP collects fees for street lights at the @ 20% of assessed property tax. They would like to provide services for water supply, drainage and roads improvement like Municipal standards. 2. Panchayat Samiti - The PS doesn't have bye laws yet and are trying to impose license fee on electric autos. The OSR collection of PS duringa 2013-14 is around Rs.14 lakh. The Block has 16 GPs and 271 Sansads and gets around Rs.50 lakh SFC fund annually. 4. Most of the G.Ps has to spend huge fund for bamboo bridges due to water logging during monsoon. Drinking water supply is a problem as PHE department is unable to cover the entire area due paucity of requisite personnel. Meeting with Suri-I Panchayat Samiti on 27.3.15 at Panchayat Samiti Office 1. OSR collection is mainly from sell of tender papers and during 2013-14 collection from this source is Rs.11.60 lakh. But on implementation of e-tendering process collection from this source will not be available. The PS did not venture for tapping other sources. 2. CFC, SFC and BRGF are the major sources of untied fund. 3. From discussion it appears that the PS does not maintain Asset Register. 4. They said account keeping is generally good. 5. ELA audit generally held for 2 to 3 financial years at a time and this has been done up to 2012-13. Interaction with ISGP Gram Panchayats at Meeting Hall of Panchayats & R.D. Department, Jessop Buildings, Kolkata on 26.11.2014 1. A Presentation by the ISGP Cell of Panchayats & R.D. Department shows a steady progress of the project. 2. A Grievance redressal system is ready and is expected to be operational within this financial year. The system is intended to cover services provided by GPs and would be available for all GPs. 3. Social Audit system has also been developed for all GPs and is expected to be operational by March 2015. There is a body within Directorate of Panchayats known as DTAPP which is supposed to take care of all social audit matters in the state. Each GP participating in the deliberation made a brief presentation in respect of their own local body. The summary is as follows: 1. Keshpur GP, Paschim Medinipur - There are roughly 200 meters of concrete road in

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each Sansad. The cost came to about Rs. 3.5 lakh per 110 meters. People are now willing to pay tax and non tax since they are getting their service. Last year(2013-14) they got Rs. 32 lakh. Untied fund from other sources are not regular and predictable. They are being asked to submit utilisation within a very short time. Staff shortage is a big problem. Jeevika sevaks have not received payments for last 10 months due to non receipt of BRGF fund. 5. Mejia, Bankura : After a drain is constructed it needs to be cleaned after every 4 months. How to get the fund to do this work? It won't be possible for us to raise the tax collection to a higher level overnight. Getting fund for operation and maintenance of the assets created is a problem.20% tax increased. 6. Itamogra 2 GP, Mahishadal Block - Untied fund need to be increased. Allocation per booth is not a feasible programme. Solid waste management problem is related to operational cost. People appreciate that taxes are required to be raised. Own source also can be- raising from remunerative assets to be created. 7. Anybodyya GP, Bishnupur sub divn - Minimum untied fund required is around 500 per capita. As of now it is around 242 per capita per year. 8. Rajpur, Bankura: Irrigation is a major need. Untied fund is inadequate. Last year they received 60 lakh untied fund. They too feel a total untied fund of Rs. 500 per capita per year would be reasonable. 9. Manjushree GP, Purba Medinipur. 30% is required for maintenance. 10. Danton 2 GP, Purba Medinipur - Per capita untied allocation should be Rs. 500-700. GP’s share should be 80% of the total allocation. Debra, - Honorarium of GP members need to be raised. 11. Kolaghat, Purba Medinipur - Maintenance should be compulsorily a part of the budget.Tax ranges from Rs. 24 to 1500.OSR collection varies from Rs.14lakh to Rs.15 lakh and is 80% to 90% of the Demand. 12. Lodhashuli GP - All untied funds should follow ISGP principle. Maintenance funds necessary. Taxes need to be raised. 13. Salanpur GP, Bardhaman: Flat owners not willing to pay tax. Tribals are willing to pay tax. This is a peri-urban area. Per capita allocation is around Rs. 270 at present. This should be raised to Rs. 500 per capita. Interaction with Non-ISGP Gram Panchayats at Meeting Hall of Panchayats & R. D. Department, Jessop Buildings, Kolkata on 27.11.2014 1. Dhubulia 2, Krishnanagar-II block The GPs should be clearly informed from the beginning of the financial year as to fund entitlement and predictability of the fund flow should be there. The flow of untied funds is not very regular. Entitlement should be raised so that we are at par with ISGP GPs. Nadia is arsenic prone area, tube wells are getting infected with arsenic, it would be good to earmark funds as a percentage of allocation for activities other than roads. Maintenance funds need to be earmarked. Need at least untied funds Rs. 400 per capita, for new work. Minimum 10 to 15 lakhs is required per year for maintenance. For tax determination there should be provision for cross verification. 2. Petbindhi GP, Gopiballavpur-II Block - Almost all funds are tied in some sort. The funds should be really untied. 13 th finance commission is tied with maintenance. More funds should be allotted to GPs who cannot mobilise their own resources due to various constraints. Land valuation of an area, and economic activity in the area should be taken into account in working out allotments. Central valuation board need to be set up for

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determination of taxes in Panchayat areas. Form No 5A and Form no 4 is defective as they do not provide details of the land and these forms should be ammended. 3. Dhatrigram GP, Kalna-I, Block, Bardhaman. There are 23 Sansads in this GP. Few villages are there on the other side of the river. Their own fund, amounting to Rs. 2.5- 3 Lakh is spent per year mostly towards payment of salary bills of outsourced staff. Untied fund is Rs. 12 lakhs. The resource is not enough for a GP with 32000 populations. 4th SFC should recommend to increase GPs allocation. They need at least Rs.65 lakhs to take care of basic needs. Every year 30-40 tube well needs to be re sunk . 4. Agradweep GP, Katwa-II Block,Bardhaman, - This is a geographically isolated GP.50% S.C& 10% S.T population.There is high percentage of agricultural labourers.They need to cross the river Ganga three times to reach the GP office. A large mela is held at Gopinathdham every year. 100 tube wells have to be sunk each year for this mela. Cost of land in the area is Rs.20,000/ per bigha. Members’ honorariums are inadequate to motivate them in attending the meetings in GP office.So,TA of GP Members need to be enhanced. The Commission should take special care of difficult Gram Panchayats such as this. OSR collection is around Rs.70,000/ per year. Total untied fund received is around Rs 20-22 lakhs. (3rd SFC +13th FC). Fund required is around Rs.500 per capita.Road connection is required with Bethuadohori. 5. Orphuly GP, Bagnan-II Block – Now GPs are of three categories- ISGP, Non-ISGP and Backward GPS. Most of the non- ISGP are without concrete roads. Even though 13th FC funds are meant for maintenance, these are not really used for maintenance. The facts are fudged. Maintenance should be mandatorily earmarked. Out of Rs.300-350 per capita 40 to 50 rupees should be earmarked for maintenance. Backwardness should be identified after taking BPL population into consideration. 6. Chaktetul GP, Galsi-I Block – The areas through which NH2 has passed are more affluent. There are GPs with large number of rice mills and they can earn a lot. Panchayats are treated as centres for doles. Backward Panchayats should get more funds and for this Survey should be conducted by Govt. This GP gets around Rs.20-22 lakhs as untied fund annually. Population is 17000. OSR is around Rs.50,000/ only. They do not have many economic activities in this GP, hence the resource base towards OSR collection is low. Agricultural produce could not be marketed owing dearth in communication facilities. 7. Junebedia GP, Bankura-II Block- There are 21 Sansads.Population- 31000, untied fund Rs.21-22 lakhs. They receive funds too late and also in the fag-end of the financial year. Flow of funds is not predictable and irregular. For example huge payments in NREGA were presently overdue. There is river within the GP,but no irrigation facilities explored. 8. Khatra-II GP,Khatra Block, Bankura - Approximately half the area of this GP do not receive any irrigation water from Kagsabati dam. Population around 22000 and roads are mostly are kutchha. Untied fund is around Rs.18-19 lakhs. 200 tube wells are there and cost of maintenance is very high. Canals constructed by irrigation department are at times required to be maintained by the GP. Non-ISGP GPs should get more funds from the Finance commission. 9. Mohairi-II GP of Domjur block- Population around 17 thousand and mostly of them belong to minority communities. Untied fund received around Rs.13 lakhs per year.

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Drainage is a problem leading to spread of Malaria. 10. Uriyasai GP of Garbeta-III Block- OSR is around Rs.70 to 80 thousand. Population around 15000. Untied fund received is around 12-13 Lac. OSR - people are still reluctant to pay tax, which is further compounded by lack of resources. Chandrakona Road, the nearest urban areas is around 30 KM from the GP. 11. Sadhanpara-II GP, Krishnanagar-II Block-Most of the area of the GP is covered by RR Department’s land. Population is 18,000 of which 60% and 10% are S.C & S.T people respectively. People are mostly labourers. Own source revenue is around Rs.1.70 lakh. Total untied fund is around Rs.14 lakh. The allocation should be raised to around Rs.300 per capita per year. Continuance of NREGA is doubtful. Maintaining roads is a great problem. Audits raise objections to the issue of taking works on the same roads repeatedly. 12. Kamalpur GP, Ranaghat-II Block - Population 47000, 29 Sansads, 35 booths. Received Rs. 22 lakhs as untied fund annually. 13. Amarul GP Bhatar Block - All GPs should be under ISGP. Total share of rural bodies should be raised to 80- 85% of RLB allocation. Area of the Panchayat and its geo- morphological features should be taken into account. Population density should be taken into account. Peri urban GPs have a higher own source income. Literacy rate of an area should be taken into account. Without MGNREGA the shine will go off the GPs. Population of the GP is 20421. Total untied fund is Rs. 14 lakh only. In 2013-14 total amount of untied fund received is Rs.20 lakhs only from which they had to spend about Rs.10 lakh for drinking water purpose. 14. Bantul Baidyanathpur GP, Bagnan-II Block – Population- 23000 and Sansads-16. Untied fund around Rs.25 lakh. OSR very low. Maintenance of drinking water sources is a big drag. Tube wells require frequent repair. Requests for such allocation by 4th SFC so that per capita requirement of Rs.300 to 400 is met. 15. Parsola GP, Simlipal Block- Population-17000 and S.T population is very high.50% of the area is Forest.13th FC fund is mostly utilised for tube well maintenance. Drinking water is a problem. Area along with population should be considered as parameters for determination of allocations. In last year received only Rs.7 lakhs as 3rd SFC fund. Compared to 13th FC, 3rd SFC fund is irregular. At times there is duplication of investment for infrastructure leading to redundancy. OSR is around Rs.2.50 lakh. Provisioning of Street lights will pose a problem as recurring payments cannot be arranged. 16. Ballavpur GP, Raniganj Block –Sansads-15. Ballavpur Rural Hospital has a maintenance problem. Reportedly has an annual maintenance fund of Rs. 40000/-. Hospital authority uses to seek assistance from the GP for taking up work in Hospital area. This hospital has an outdoor load of around 1200 patient per day and also 50 indoor beds. Population- 20000, untied fund is around Rs.21 lakhs to Rs. 22 lakhs.They proposed for revision of Members’ honorarium in order to motivate them to attend the office. Some Street lights have been installed, but are unable to bear recurring expenditure. Staff quarters of Bengal Paper Mill are being maintained by the Panchayats. 17. Haldia-I GP, Ramnagar-I Block-Located in the coastal area, so disaster management is a major charge. Roads need to be concretised for tackling disaster like situation. Getting

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around allocation @Rs.100 per capita. 18. Balluk-I, Shahid Matangini Block- 20000 populations. Rs.20-22 lakh untied fund received. 14 sansads. Money needs to be allotted equally to all Sansads. Requests for inclusion as a ISGP Gram Panchayat. 19. Bijur-I, Memari-II Block- Distance between two extreme Sansads is around 15 KMs. Kalna-Burdwan pucca road passes through this GP and rests are morrum roads.Cost of maintenance of morrum roads are high. Population is 20,000. Untied fund is Rs 20 lakhs-22 lakhs. OSR was Rs 2.50 lakh. This year’s (2014-15) target is Rs. 6 lakhs. They have a target of collecting minimum of Rs. 36 per holding per year. Honorarium of Pradhan etc need to be enhanced. 20. Karsa GP, Garbeta-III Block- Population-32,000,untied fund-Rs.24 lakhs.80% minority population.Piped water supply takes care of 90% of the households. Cost escalation leads to non-completion of drains. Payment of Electric bills is a problem. Low voltage damages pumps. OSR is around Rs. 1.15 lakh. GP did not take up any road construction work under untied fund. Meeting with Dhulasimla GP, Uluberia-I Block on 26.11.13 at G.P. Office 1. This is one of the thickly populated GP of Uluberia Sub-division under Howrah District. 2. The GPs average Own Source Revenue collection stands at Rs.3.0 lakh per annum. 3. Most of the Own Source Revenue collection is spent towards infrastructure development of GP. 4. The future plans of the GP is to create infrastructure for public health, safe drinking water, improve irrigation for agriculture & agriculture marketing, street light, drainage etc. 5. Their demand for local development requires more untied fund and technical assistance. 6. Demand of local people highlights to have more concrete roads with drainage and street light. Meeting with Hutmura GP, Purulia-II Block on 10.9.14 at G.P. Office 1. OSR collection is very poor and on an average it is around Rs. 1lakh per year. 2. BPL families constitute nearly 40% of total families 3. Yearly expenditure is about Rs.1.5 crore of which public health expenditure is around Rs.3.92 lakh and on education related matter expenditure is around Rs.2.31 lakh. 4. No training for Members has been imperted. 5. Untied fund (SFC+CFC+BRGF) varies from Rs.25 to 30 lakh and fund utilised for maintenance work is nearly 40% of total expenditure. Meeting with Bankibandh GP, Salboni Block on 13.10.14 at G.P. Office 1. Tax collection is 30% against demand of Rs.10 lakh on an average per annum. OSR (Tax and Non-Tax) collection is around Rs.4 lakh per annum. Note Printing Press of RBI at Salboni does not pay service charges payable to GP as per provision. From discussion it appears that the GP has not tried to issue demand notice to Note Printing Press. 2. Expenditure under NREGA in the last year was Rs.130 lakh. CFC fund is used for maintenance work and SFC fund for new construction work. 3. There is only one Bank (SBI) for this GP and Kashigora GP. They plead for one more Bank. 4. They face water crisis often as the water table is available at 200 to 300 ft below the ground level. So submersible tube wells meet their purpose. They plead for installation of 10 more submersible tube wells. Meeting with Mahula-I GP, Beldanga Block on 28.10.14 at G.P. Office

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1. Tax collection is around 30% of demand. Annual average of Non-tax revenue is Rs.87,000/-. They explained that there is high percentage of non agriculture labourers. 2. Tax is reviewed in every three years. 3. Expenditure is incurred specially on road schemes and tube well maintenance. 4. They could not explain faulty uploading of reply to SFC Questionnaire and agreed that it was their fault. 5. Maintenance work is generally taken up from CFC fund and new construction/upgradation is taken up from SFC fund. Meeting with Boaldar G.P., Balurghat on 15.1.15 at G.P.Office 1. Good initiative on nutrition monitoring taken by GP. They have introduced an additional monitoring card for SAM children 2. Paucity of fund is there for taking up maintenance of roads and construction of culverts. 3. Water has high iron content which demands a reverse osmosis based water clearing system. 4. NREGS has remained suspended since August 2014.Total payment still due under NREGS is about Rs.60 lakh. On an average an amount of Rs.15000-20000 per family remained due who have worked under NREGA. 5. Total budget estimate is Rs. 6.00 crore. 6. Maintenance is a major charge as many agencies are creating assets but they do not have any maintenance funds. People expect GPs to maintain the assets so created. 7. They opined for earmarking 40% of SFC fund for maintenance. Meeting with Mahadipur GP, Englishbazar block, Malda at Gram Panchayat Office on 17.1.15 Population 23000+ (5000 HH), BPL 2677, Sansads/members-14, it’s a border GP and a place of tourist attraction as the ancient capital of Gaur is located within this GP. Total expenditure during 2013-14 is Rs. 65.21lakh and that in 2012-13 is Rs. 87 lakh, Income as follows:OSR - Tax –Rs. 89,147, Non tax –Rs. 74,534, BRGF + 3rd SFC + 13 FC = Rs.26,00,000. Plans are generally wish lists of Members. All the members have their desires listed; hence it is never a very useful plan. Two meetings are held in every month. Funds are allotted equally for all sansads. The works are not started unless the fund is equally divisible by14 i.e. availability of identical amount for each member is ensured. Nirman Sahayak approves schemes up to Rs.1.5 lakhs. BDO, Englishbazar stated that tourist spots at Mahadipur are not properly exploited. Somehow the GP has never been properly involved nor have they seriously considered exploring the opportunities. The GP has 144 water bodies. These resources are being enjoyed by someone else. GP has no income from these resources. Women members were initially silent, and took some time to open up. Surprisingly, when we asked women members, one of the members demanded an ICDS centre in their area. Underage marriage is considered a major issue. Law and order related insecurity was identified to be one of the reasons for underage marriage. Meeting with Madhupur GP, Coochbehar 2 Block at Gram Panchayat Office on 6.2.15 1. This GP is ISGP one. The ISGP team supports execution of the schemes of GP as per guidelines. OSR collection during 2012-13 is Rs.1.24 lakh. GP is making fresh assessment of tax. 2. Pradhan stated that river erosion in Torsa is a major problem. Some sansads in the GP are isolated and disconnected by the river. Communication is a problem. Embankment protection/reinforcement work is a must. Needs about Rs.5. 00 crore to do this work. The river is now flowing through two separate channels. Total "pitching" embankment is about

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3240 meters. Couple of villages are now under water. People of these villages are now living on the embankment. Rehabilitation of these people is a priority task of the GP. They need a bridge on Torsa river to improve connectivity with Coochbehar HQ. 3. Sanchalak Shilpo Parikathamo said that the ISGP facilitators are making a difference. For example the Sanchalak stated that GP constructed a concrete road in his booth. For construction of this road the ISGP facilitators guided them to i) prepare proper estimate of the scheme on explaining the schedule, ii) monitor the work. The team properly guided them in the field. 4. Immunisation and institutional delivery is reportedly very high. Incidence of human trafficking is now reportedly low over the past years. Migration has doubled up since last twenty years due to possibility of earning more income in other States. People go mostly to Kerala for work in construction sites. The women travel mostly to Rajasthan to work as maids. 5. The focus on planning is mostly on permanent assets of bigger size. Investment per scheme has been increasing over the years. Per capita expenditure is around Rs.305 as reported by them. Meeting with Fulbari-II GP, Rajganj Block at Gram Panchayat Office on 7.2.15 1. Population 35602, BPL household – 4265, Pucca Road-30 Kms., Small Industries-30, Factories-35, ICDS-29 nos. 2. Non agricultural area and tea garden comprises - 8260+1000 hectares=9260 hectares 3. Total expenditure under NREGA was Rs.56 lakh in 2013-14. They reported that fund against NREGA dues have been transferred to Post Office but they are not paying the same to beneficiaries. The post office is under Darjeeling circle and hence not very accountable to district authorities of Jalpaiguri. 4. In spite of being an urbanised GP there is no systematic arrangements for waste disposal. Drinking water is a problem. 5. Three members complained that sites identified by them for tube well are not being honoured by the Pradhan. Dug well is a preferred source of drinking water. PHE collects water from Water Treatment Plant in Fulbari for supplying water at Siliguri only, but this area is not being served. People do not prefer tube well as the water is full of iron. Meeting with Ruppur GP, Bolpur-Sriniketan Block on 28.3.15 at Gram Panchayat Office 1. This GP is of urban in nature and is very close to Bolpur Municipality. Demands of the local people are accordingly high. 2. The future plans of the GP is to create infrastructure for education, public health, safe drinking water, improved irrigation for agriculture, street light, improved communication for agriculture marketing, drainage and development of tourism. 3. Their intention for improve revenue generation include restructuring of tax and rates, restructuring trade registration fees, construction of commercial complex and leasing out of ponds. 4. For rapid implementation of the decision, they require more technical assistance. 5. They expect the 4th SFC to look into the matters.

4.00 Some major reflections from Urban Local Bodies. These include Commission’s visit to U.L.Bs from 27.02.2014 to 28.3.15 as well as those captured from the meetings held at the Meeting Hall of SUDA, Kolkata on 11/18/25.8.2014 and 18/19.9.2014

Ashoknagar – Kalyangarh Municipality :

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1. Untied funds being deducted by Government for electricity (from 3rd SFC fund). 2. PHE insisting on handing over the water supply system. Municipality does not have the skilled manpower set up to take up the task. 3. Increasing urbanisation is leading to increase in Non-Tax revenue 4. Central Government Offices are not paying service charges 5. Current tax realisation against demand is around 80-90%. Arrear Tax realisation is around 7-8%. 5. Valuation is supposed to be done every five years. Councillors have the competence to reduce tax by about 30% of the valuation amount. Tax holidays are imposed owing to delay in assessment by Valuation Board. Dainhat Municipality 1. Water Supply Pipe line is thirty years old. Needs immediate replacement Raniganj Municipality 1. Suggested imposition of Road Toll tax on their part. 2. Huge electricity bill imposes a problem on routine maintenance. Feels that the amount paid directly by the Government to SEB is not being adjusted properly. 3. Annual Tax demand is Rs.1.20 Cr., 80 to 82% of the current demand is being realised. 4. Non Tax revenue being earned is around Rs. 2.14 crore. Arambagh Municipality 1. 71 vacancies against sanctioned posts. 2. There is huge number of casual staff. 3. Pension liability proving to be a huge burden as Municipality has to provide 60% of pension and 100% of Gratuity and Leave Salary 4. Govt. land within municipality should not be transferred to other bodies without consultation with Municipality as they need such land for development works in their jurisdiction. 5. They propose that Government should grant exemption of salami and rent for long term lease government land. 6. No usage charges for street light are being realised. Tarakeswar Municipality 1. Is taking the load of pilgrims without any compensation. Habra Municiapality Paid Rs.60 lakh for electricity, another Rs.70 lakh deducted from the untied fund. Still Rs. 1.23 Cr is shown to be outstanding as electricity charges. Director SUDA: Municipalities have made commitments under the right to public services Act. JNNURM Schemes does not provide for O&M. Chairperson Dhupguri Municipality 1. Shortage of technical persons in maintaining water supply 2. Electricity bill – Rs. 22 Lac overdue 3. Employee provident fund – Rs.88000/- payable every month 4. Contractual employees get a consolidated amount of Rs. 3-4 thousand per month. How can they be expected to pay the employees share of the PF from this meagre amount? 5. Solid waste management – Municipality is facing political obstructions in arranging this service Chairman Gobardanga Municipality 1. Old Municipality – established in 1970 2. Many water bodies have been filled up but not yet regularised by Municipality. 3. Mid-day meal fund allotted is inadequate

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4. Maintenance of Roads is a big problem, pot holes appear after one year 5. 109 regular staff – 250 casual employees 6. Cannot implement solid waste management 7. Crematorium – still using wood, proposes to have an electric crematorium 8. Has 30 bighas land next to lake. Proposes to develop this into a tourist spot 9. Water supply scheme – PHE has arranged for supply – but water contains iron and arsenic (JNNURM supports water supply scheme to non mission towns - Dhupguri Darjeeling, Memari but Gobardanga has been left out) Memari Municipality 1. Human Resource is a problem – shortage of Accountant, cashier and other technical manpower. Has 24 whole time staff. There are only 2 posts of SAEs. Vacant positions need to be filled up. 2. State yet to provide DFID supported staff such as urban planner, IT coordinator, AFC. (temporary solution – being provided through WEBEL) 3. Electricity Bill – pending Rs.63 lacs – got around Rs.10 lacs. 4. Amount due from state and central government on account of tax/service charge on property is around Rs.22 lac 5. Current realisation is around Rs.25 lac against overall demand around Rs.119 Lac. Dinhata Municipality 1. Government should take responsibility for staff 2. Low voltage creates problems for water supply. 3. EPF authority sending monthly demand to bank asking for deduction from the available fund of the Municipality. 4. Needs funds to buy land for solid waste management (as of now 50% of the fund is being made available by the state government) 5. Staff shortage. Kurseong Municipality 1. In 2005-06 staff was slashed from 137 to 116, the logic for this downsizing is not clear to the Chairman – doesn’t have SAE, 12 applications for employment against died in harness category are pending with the state government. 2. Solid waste management – Not started yet for want of land. Tea gardens asking for huge compensation. 3. Electricity bills are huge problem – low voltage creates problems for illumination. 4. Water distribution is by Municipality but storage is arranged by PHE. 5. Higher allocation should be considered for Hill areas as the transportation cost of any material is considerably higher than other areas. 6. Needs a gas based crematorium as the erratic power supply makes the electric ones non-functional. Dalkola Municipality 1. It became a Municipality only in 2003 2. Has a minority population of 37.5%. Has sent many proposals to Minority Department 3. Valuation exercise not yet done. No taxes imposed yet 4. Huge infrastructure needs. Many projects pending with EE MED for vetting. EO Englishbazar Municipality 1. 132 out 517 posts are vacant. Proposal for filling up the posts are pending with state government 2. Solid waste management – land is still a problem (They are apparently unaware of the fact that 50% of the fund can be provided by the state government) 3. Sewerage service – separate fund needed 4. This Municipality is required to maintain 445 KM of road.

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Islampur Municipality 1. Water supply – has not been able to arrange supply to all the households 2. Drainage – Not enough funds 3. Has an income of about 3 to 4 lakhs per month while the salary of casual staff alone is around Rs. 5 lakhs per month. 4. Has not been able to set up effective solid waste management system in absence of a dumping ground. Gangarampur Municipality 1. Revenue Loss – Lot of illegal construction going on in areas declared restricted by archaeological survey of India. The municipality cannot accord permission for construction in these areas and hence cannot realise either tax or development fee. 2. Requires approval for setting up parking facilities on Highways, There are also many illegal hoardings set up on the highways which do not pay any charges to anybody. Balurghat Municipality 1. No scope for widening the roads. 2. No supermarkets. 3. Manpower shortage is a big problem. 138 out of 297 posts are vacant. 4. Casual employees have filed a case against the municipality for non payment of EPF. Dubrajpur Municipality Population based allocations do not take into account the multiple factors influencing the functioning of Municipalities. The Area of a Municipality should also be considered. Nabadwip Municipality 1. Nabadwip has a population of 1.25 lakhs. But since it is a heritage town it is visited by a large number of pilgrims. Population based allocation does not take into account this extra burden on the civic resources of the Municipality. This problem can only be solved through additional allocation. 2. Rs. 80 Lakh + Rs.1.30 Cr has been deducted from the entitlement of the Municipalities on account of the electricity dues. The detail of the bills against which this amount has been realised has not been shared with the Municipality. 3. Given the pilgrim overload the drainage of the town is a major problem. 4. The Municipality has 253 vacant posts (53%) 5. Payment of arrear pension of personnel is a major strain on the resources of the Municipality. Birnagar Municipality 1. Power supply is a problem 2. Poor internet connectivity poses a major problem in uploading data 3. Funds being provided under State Housing project for poor are inadequate for the number of urban poor required to be covered. Bankura Municipality 1. Deduction for electricity grant from SFC entitlement is a major problem. 2. They have 23 wards, but all allocations are based on population, which reduces their financial entitlement unfairly. Absence of higher population density penalises the municipality. 3. Municipality has identified land for setting up solid waste management system, but is not able to set up the system since it does not have adequate funds. Not setting up the system is leading to violation of rules. 4. Huge area is yet to be covered under piped water supply. 5. Infrastructure quite old and maintenance is a major problem. Jangipur Municipality 1. Does not have any road maintained by PWD within their area. Their entire maintenance

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burden rests on the Municipality. They got around Rs. 20 lakhs from the Government and need about Rs.40 lakhs. 2. Arrear pension is a big problem. Municipality is required to spend around 60% of the total requirement. 3. Municipality is not able to pay gratuity from its resources. Bishnupur Municipality Has no comment or suggestions for the Commission. Sonamukhi Municipality 1. Electricity – Rs.46 lakhs is reported to be pending payment. 2. Poor connectivity due to lack of adequate public transport is reported. Beldanga Municipality 1. Solid Waste management is still a big problem. This has not been set up 2. Power theft is reported by hooking the street light connections. Municipality is forced to pay the charges. No cooperation from any quarter for preventing this theft. 3. The water supply system is 32 years old. Maintenance is a huge problem. 4. Staff shortage plagues the Municipality. They are not able to pay the EPF commitments. 5. Payment of pension is also a major financial burden. Berhampur Municipality 1. Cremation and burial grounds need improvement. 2. The roads are required to be reconstructed with asphalt. 3. The municipal services are used by large number of tourists who do not pay for the services. 4. Hasn’t received any fund last year. 5. Electricity bill is a problem. 6. In spite of all the problems the municipality has improved from C grade to B grade. Chairman Dhulian Municipality 1. Has been upgraded from grade D to grade C 2. Drainage is a huge problem. The Municipality remains water logged for about 6 months every year. Chairman Jiaganj Municipality 1. Salary is not fully supported by Government – monthly salary shortage is around Rs. 72 lakhs. 2. There is shortage of fund for payment of gratuity also. 3. Consequently the municipality is forced to divert funds to make these payments – IHSDP allotment is being held up as a result. 4. Jiaganj and Ajimganj are twin towns, but in absence of a bridge sending a roller from one town to another entails a detour of 50 km adding to the cost of maintenance. 5. Present vetting limit is problem. EE can vet up to Rs. 25 lakhs. The source of fund has to be mentioned in the proposal to have it vetted. On the other hand one cannot submit un-vetted proposals to the department seeking funds. 6. For Ganga beautification, no fund is available. Murshidabad Municipality 1. Huge rush of tourists – no additional income for maintenance of civic facilities 2. Major financial problems – electricity bills – pension- gratuity payment Chairman Chakdah Municipality 1. Department has deducted Rs. 1.90 lakh on account of electricity bill although all electricity dues had been paid by the Municipality. 2. Drains are virtually nonexistent in the Municipality. This may lead to major public health hazard.

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3. Has not been able to identify a place to dump solid waste 4. This is an arsenic prone area but the Municipality is compelled to supply water of doubtful quality. The water supply system needs to be replaced by river lift irrigation immediately. 5. 67 out of 142 posts are vacant. Another 25 personnel are scheduled to retire next year. 6. Salary component of municipality personnel needs to be taken over by the government fully as is being done in respect of PRIs. 7. The staff norms, which were set up in 1995 needs to be reviewed immediately. 8. The contractual employees are low paid. As such they have not been able to pay the employees share of EPF. The municipality had to pay penal interest of Rs. 11 lakh for this. Cooper’s Camp N.A.A. 1. The slum population is more than 95% 2. This Body pays electricity bill for water being supplied by PHE, but the quality of the water is not satisfactory. 3. The old hydrants are not being maintained properly and are a health hazard. 4. There are still 3455 houses made of non permanent materials. Krishnangar Municipality 1. Problem of electricity bill – Rs. 1.28 cr + 70 lakhs has been deducted from their entitlement. Municipality considers these bills to be fictitious. 2. 117 posts still vacant 3. Payment of arrear pension is a major burden. Getting pensions sanctioned is also problematical Ranaghat Municipality 1. Arbitrary deduction of entitled funds is a major problem 2. Why should filling up of sanctioned posts require approval from the government? This practice should be discontinued. 3. The upper limits on revenues for various items as fixed in 1993 Municipal Act need to be reviewed. These limits are creating problems for resource generations of Municipalities. Shantipur Municipality 1. Pension demands Rs.1.44 lakhs Government bears only 45% of this amount 2. Electricity dues, gratuity etc are continuing to fall in arrears; these are not being paid by the Municipality. Taherpur Notified Area Authority 1. Income around Rs. 25 to 30 lakhs 2. Solid waste Management not started – needs money to develop the dumping ground 3. E-tendering is not being locally responded to 4. They are trying to develop a picnic spot as a resource generating activity. Needs financial support for this. 5. Councillors are underpaid, remuneration should be enhanced. EO Bolpur Municipality 1. Has huge pending electricity dues 2. Has not been able to arrange dumping ground for solid waste management 3. The Municipality is required to bear extra expenditure for taking care of VIP visits, which happens quite frequently. 4. Staff structure is quite old and outdated 5. PHE submits monthly bills for water supply which the Municipality cannot pay. Accountant Rampurhat Municipality 1. The Municipality has 40% minority population 2. Annual tax demand is around Rs. 40 lakhs – even if they collect 80% of the demand expenses cannot be met. 3. Only 55 out of 155 posts are filled up – there are 6 clerks for managing the affairs of a

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ULB serving a population of 70,000 Urban Planner, Sainthia Municipality 1. Needs allotment of more houses under IHSDP 2. The municipality suffers from fairly large incidence of open defecation. 3. There will be large scale retirement in near future and all permanent posts will fall vacant by 2016 4. EPF arrear is payable from 2011 but funds not available 5. IT coordinator being a temporary and contractual incumbent feels de-motivated 6. Master plan of waste disposal necessary. Presently the arrangement is ad-hoc. There is no permanent dumping ground. Chairman Jhalda Municipality 1. Needs to pay Rs. 4 lakhs for pension per month. 2. SHGs are not receiving support under SJSRY 3. The regional Municipal Engineering Department office at Bankura is located at a distance of 140 KM from Jhalda. Therefore vetting of schemes takes considerable expense and time. It would be helpful if the Municipality is allowed to get its schemes vetted by Purulia Zilla Parishad. 4. The Municipality does not have any development schemes under implementation at present. Chairman Haldia Municipality 1. Electricity bill comes to about Rs. 30 lakhs annually. They are also required to pay penalty. 2. Municipality should be allowed to charge service charges from the State Electricity Distribution Company offices at their place. 3. The Municipality is required to pay Rs. 75 lakhs per month for water supply while the ULB is not imposing user charge. As a result it has an arrear due of Rs. 9.00 crore at present. 4. This ULB is located in an industrial belt with no drainage arrangement. The town gets submerged in the rainy season. Irrigation department does not maintain any sluice gate. 5. Slum Improvement project is not taking shape. Panskura Municipality 1. The Municipality houses one of the biggest vegetable markets in the state. 2. There is an accident prone level crossing in the town which cannot be set right by the Municipality. 3. Only 28 houses were sanctioned under IHSDP- very inadequate compared to the need. 4. There are large numbers of unplanned and unauthorised construction in the town area which cannot be controlled by the Municipality owing to inadequate cooperation from the police. The unplanned constructions are leading to severe drainage problem in the town. 5. Only 29 out of 155 posts are filled up. Staff shortage is leading to management problem. 6. Contractual engagement of key personnel such as AFC (Rs. 16000/- pm), Community Organiser (Rs.5000/- per month) de-motivates the staff. No urban planner has been posted to this municipality and they have not prepared city development plan. 7. No solid waste management system in place as they suffer from staff shortage. 8. Staff shortage is being temporarily met by engagement of short term employees on contract who are paid from the municipality’s own fund. 9. They have not been able to pay various agencies/ suppliers from whom services/goods were obtained during the last flood. The outstanding due is around Rs. 13 lakh. 10. Lack of coordination with different line departments is a major problem of the Municipality. Chairman Tamluk Municipality 1. Traffic congestion caused by unauthorised encroachment of public space is a major

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problem of the Municipality 2. Clearance of such space will require arrangement for rehabilitation of evictees which will be difficult for the municipality. 3. Shortage of regular staff making management difficult. The contractual employees do not perform at the desired level. 190 out of 208 sanctioned positions are in place. In addition to these there are 150 casual staff including conservancy staff. 4. There is no collection from Government holdings. Purulia Municipality 1. Has land but not other means for building up a solid waste management system 2. Financial condition of Municipality is in a bad shape. 3. PUP funds do not flow into the municipality at all. 4. Needs support for developing Revenue generating infrastructure for tourism. 5. Requested for revising the staffing pattern. Chairman Haldibari Municipality. 1. Mainly agro-based economy – whole sale markets for chilly and tomato – has to bear the additional burden of the commercial activity in the town. 2. Has dumping ground but no funds to set up Solid waste management facility 3. Drainage is a big problem. 4. Needs fund for purchasing land for infrastructure development Mekhliganj municipality 1. Rs. 60 lakh due from Government establishments. 2. Rs. 60.36 lakhs deducted from the SFC grants on account of electricity dues 3. Has an unpaid commitment of Rs. 15 lakh on account of arrear gratuity 4. Staff pattern needs to be revised. There is a shortage of skilled staff. IHSDP is scheduled to terminate in 2015. What will happen to the persons engaged under this programme? 5. Had set up guest house, park and auditorium, but has not been able to take up any maintenance work of these facilities in the last 25 years. Kaliaganj Municipality 80% of construction related to water supply is complete, but the system is not functional. Jamuria Municipality Water supply is the major problem. No water is being supplied to 14 wards. Chairman Kalna Municipality 1. Unavailability of land is a problem for solid waste management. 2. Had to discontinue street lighting for five months. 3. Had issued notice to SEB for payment of service tax. 4. Shortage of 60 staff. 5. Recommended recruitment through Municipal Service Commission. Considers technical competence of existing staff quite poor. 6. Recommends that issue of license by Excise authorities in any area should require clearance from the Municipality concerned. Observation of DLB – the post of DLB has been lying vacant for last two years. The Directorate had only part time Directors and hence lot of issues are pending. Even now there is a part time Director only. Meeting with Madhyamgram Municipality on 27.2.14 at their Office 1. This Municipality was constituted in1993. 2. Chairman stated that the decadal growth of population in municipal area was 46.65% over 1991-2001 period and that during 2001-2011 period it was 26.7$%. According to the chairman, such high growth was not the natural one but due to migration of population for habitation, being nearer to Kolkata. 3. There are 118 notified slums with 34230 populations.

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4. According to the W.B. Right to Public Services Act,2013, the Municipality displayed timeframe for services to be rendered to citizen. 5. There are 170 permanent staff against sanctioned strength of 227 and there are 548 casual workers. 6. Electricity bill is around Rs.4 crore on an average per year and there are no dues. Government does not provide fund to meet up electricity charges. 7. For preventing care under public health there are 114 volunteers. Public health expenditure is incurred by the Municipality from its own fund and doctors attached to Municipality Hospital are paid @Rs.180/- per hour of duty. 8. OSR shows gradual increase over the years and during 2012-13 it was Rs.1466.82 lakh. 9. Valuation of property done in1997 and the Municipality is going to make interim assessment. Meeting with Memari Municipality on 28.8.14 at their Office 1. Electricity bill is around Rs. 63 lakh. 2. From own fund they paid Rs. 10 lakh towards pension per year. 3. No information on EPF contribution. 4. Pension Liability is around 48 lakh annually. ULB has a tie up with LIC and pays a premium of Rs.35000 per month. (“Group Gratuity savings scheme of LIC”). 5. Non Tax revenue around Rs. 119.00 lakh; Tax revenue Rs. 21 lakh 6. Arrear Tax – Only around 13.6% of the arrear tax realised from the state government. 1.52% of the arrear amount due from the Central Government establishment has been realised. (There is reportedly a decision of the Supreme court about realising service charges from the Govt of India institutions). 7. ELA audit up to 2012-13 has been completed. Meeting with Kalyani Municipality on 4.9.14 at their Office 1. Municipality is required to maintain 305 KM of bituminous road. 2. Electricity – Street lighting is being provided by Municipality and electricity charge comes to about Rs. 24 lakh per month. 3. Maintenance of roads and electricity charges constitute the bulk of fund requirement of the Municipality. 4. Every household is currently being supplied 165 litres water per head per day. They are trying to reduce this to 135 litres in a phased manner. Water is being supplied by KMDA upto the storage point and the distribution from the storage point to individual houses is the responsibility of the Municipality. 5. No Government offices pay any Tax to Municipality. This includes large institutions such as University, Medical College, Engineering College etc. 6. Valuation was last done in 2005. 7. Chairman is of the view that if the Municipality could collect 50% of the arrear tax which the Government institutions owe, no subsidy will be required from the state. 8. 60% of Pension and 100% of gratuity costs are borne by the Municipality. 9. EPF commitment comes to around Rs. 7.00 lakh per month. 10. Accounts is being maintained in ‘Puro-Hisab’ software starting from 2007-08 and this has been submitted to AG. 11. The ULB requires around Rs 8 crore per annum as untied fund of which around Rs. 5 crore is expected under SFC. 12. All capital expenditure for sewerage etc is made by KMDA but maintenance lies with the Municipality. 13. The electronic data management system occasionally has problems but these cannot be rectified by the Municipality. The entire system is still being handled by Change Management Unit of KUSP. Shortage of Fund of CMU affects the functioning of the digital

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system. 14. The chairman suggested inclusion of traditional occupations in the list of items for which trade license needs to be issued. Meeting with Durgapur Municipal corporation on 11.9.14 at their Office The Commission visited Stadium (without gallery), indoor stadium (without AC), Srijani Auditorium Complex and the commercial complex at Suhatta, which is reportedly running at a loss. Expected to be profitable within another two years. The corporation had to pay electricity bill of stall holders of the market complex including mega chains like "Spencer's" The corporation does not have a garbage clearance centre within its area. Garbage plant in PPP mode. The interested private parties are not coming up with DPR. Government does not have a list of empanelled service providers. (Disposal companies are flying off after the subsidy period is over). Garbage disposal seems to be a standard problem in all urban local bodies. Pesticide segregation is a major task. Collieries may accept the processed waste after segregation. Discontinuation of JNNURM will affect the building of urban infrastructure considerably. Slum resettlement will not be a problem since another programme RAY will take care of that component. ADDA had agreed to bear the total cost of solid waste disposal on behalf of DMC. ADDA IS THE NODAL AGENCY FOR JNNURM IN DURGAPUR. Street light, water supply, sewerage, solid waste management are DMC's responsibility. DMC was converted from notified area to corporation in 1997. Population within the Corporation area is 5.63 lakh. No bonds issued by the corporation. Govt loan bears an interest of 4%. Last review of property tax was in 2006. Tax collection is around 30% of the demand. More than 83% of the current demand is realised. People had resentment against the hike imposed by the Valuation Board, which went to the extent of 100% increase in many cases. 26% of the households are in slum areas. Around Rs. 5 crore tax is due from the state and central government institutes. Durgapur Steel Plant (Government of India owned) has handed over land to other organisations that are not paying tax to DMC. The water supply system has been set up with funds from JNNURM. Maintenance has to be provided by the corporation. If the water charges are not allowed to be collected (as is now being asked by the state government), it will be difficult to bear the cost of delivering water at the household level, unless it is subsidised by the state government. The Corporation provides 1000 litres per family. Corporation buys water at the rate of Rs.100 per 1000 litre from DPL and realises only 40 rupees from the households. DMC needs to know how the fixed grants and the subsidy for water supply are determined by the MA Department. Rehabilitation cases also pose a special problem.

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E tendering is being practised, but the contractors are yet to acquire the competence to participate in e tendering fully. IGNOAPS and other schematic funds are not allowed to be used for supporting additional beneficiaries. Withdrawal of support under KUSP has affected financial management. The e-governance software doesn't provide for the full range of complexities of corporation. Many of the registers are required to be maintained in excel format. Many of the registers are not generated by the software. This corporation maintains 37 bank accounts. Software in MS-Access hangs up frequently with increased data load. Other packages also cannot be linked up with the software. Corporation furnished following proposals for recommendation by 4th SFC:- 1. Corporation requests for support for digitising its financial and other decision making processes. 2. The commission may recommend establishment of a long term solid waste management system taking into account a) the problem of getting suitable land for dumping the waste, b) cost required for transportation of solid waste. (The Corporation had an involvement of Rs.5.76 crore with the plant set up earlier under PPP mode). 3. Placement of electricity grants from Government. Meeting with ADDA on 11.9.14 at their Office The jurisdiction of the Authority covers 5 ULBs and 9 CD blocks. Infrastructure is created by the development authority and handed over to the respective local bodies for use and maintenance. Municipalities neither have any official representation in the Board of management of ADDA, nor the rural local bodies. Rehabilitation of ECL employees/ residents. Master plan of shifting of 45000 families in the subsidence zone. Around 25000 acres of land will be required. High power central committee is overseeing the project. Project value in 2008 was Rs. 26000 crore. Vested land bearing poor quality coal as certified by ECL is permitted to be used for this project. This is a fully centrally funded project. Approach is to find alternative rehabilitation sites within 5/10 KMs of their existing residence. Clearance for any construction project including personal building has to be taken from ADDA. 80% of urban population of Burdwan district is located in ADDA areas. Infrastructure for large industrial estates also provided by ADDA.

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Management of MAMC township has been handed over to ADDA. DMC has not created any demand list over houses in this township. Municipalities where development authorities function should be given more funds for maintenance. The municipalities are reluctant to take over responsibility of the infrastructure for civic services because of maintenance needs. JNNURM: GoI will not make any payment for the projects sanctioned after Mar 2012. They have started sharing 10% of the penalty charge with local bodies. Meeting with KMA Municipalities 1st Phase at SUDA 20 Municipalities invited, 10 attended. Mostly represented by SAEs/ AFC/ Finance Officers. Pujali Municipality - 5 CDP contains the information sought by the commission. Staff pattern has remained unchanged since 1995. Fund has increased manifold, but personnel has remained unchanged. Shortage of Accounting staff, AFC is a temporary post. What is required is remodelling of staff structure. Restructuring requires clearance of DLB. Runs a maternity home but without any sanctioned staff. Shortage of engineering staff. They spend around 15-20 cr with only two AEs. 60% of houses are connected through metered water connection. Since other municipalities are not realising water charge, gradually there is a resistance against payment of these charges. They also stated that they are allowed and encouraged to create assets but are not being allowed to engage staff for maintaining them. Rishra Municipality – collection of revenue has gone down owing to large number of sick and closed industry.50% slum area. Maintenance is a big problem. All projects are taken up as a new project, even if these fall in the category of maintenance. Budge Budge Municipality - has no AE, promotion off senior most SAE has not been cleared. Collection of tax is a problem owing to staff shortage. Chapdani Municipality – 110 out of 359 posts are vacant. Conservancy staff, medical officer, many service providers posts vacant. Problem of pension payment, EPF, electricity bill. The municipality can bear very little of its own expenditure. No Asst. Engineers. Welcomes earmarked fund for maintenance. Konnagar Municipality - closed and sick industry aplenty. Revenue base is low. Regular staff strength low. Has to rely on casual employees. Hooghly-Chinsurah Municipality - Over dependence on casual staff. Property tax assessment was pending since 1992 but it has been taken up now. Nothing has been done about computerisation. Assessment is not being updated. Salary of contractual AFC, Urban Planner, IT coordinator still at a very low level. (Posts have now been created but recruitment rules are yet to be finalised). Annual income around Rs.3 crore. Needs around Rs.10 crore excluding salary to provide services. Serampore Municipality - Same problems raised by other municipalities.

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Bhadreswar Municipality- Shortage of human resources. 197 out of 327 are in position. DLB is posted with this information. The shortage is being made up by engagement of daily wage labour. Such casual workers are not capable of handling the additional funding being provided by the government. Needs funding for its own building. Has a 120 beded hospital. The ULB is unable to pay electricity bills. Some deductions are being made by the State Government from their entitlement to settle these amounts. Collection from industries is also very poor. A court case with a jute mill is continuing. Baidyabati Municipality –The Municipality has 146 unsanctioned staff who are paid as per scale. There is a huge payment load on the municipality. No property tax assessment was done during the last two boards. Staff strength is low against requirement. Revenue base is also low comparing to the need of the day. Maheshtala Municipality - The Municipality has 35 wards. Is trying to take up maintenance work from its own resources, but that is inadequate. It is reported that there is a proposal for merger of municipalities of Puijali, Budge Budge and Maheshtala, but it is not yet certain. Revenue earned is mostly spent on salary. Director SUDA - no revision of staff pattern since 1995. A revised pattern is under examination of the state government. Engagement of staff is a lengthy process. Chairman - why not engage through municipal service commission. Meeting with KMA municipalities 2nd phase at SUDA Chairman Barasat municipality - pays electric bill Rs. 47 lakhs. Needs to take care of railway property, Collectors office complex. This is a huge load for the municipality. Sanctioned post 356, of which 101 posts are vacant. The sanctioned strength is highly inadequate for a population of Rs.3 lakhs. Needs at least two flyovers to take care of the traffic congestion. As a district headquarter it deserves special consideration. Major roads 1) national highway 34 and 35, and 2) Jessore Road. Revenue collection has reportedly increased. Chairman Baruipur Municipality - Estd. 1869 - Main problem is narrowness of the Garia Basanti Highway. The by pass from Kamalgazi has been held up for a long time at KMDA level. Since it is a gateway to Sundarban, it has to take a huge traffic load. Cost of maintenance of roads has grown up manifold Drainage is also a big problem. Mograhat drainage canal needs to be re-excavated. Tax has increased from Rs.16 lakh to Rs.27lakh. Non Tax Revenue has increased to Rs.1. 2 cr. Shortage of staff is a problem. Municipality has only SAEs, no AE, and no Accountant. There is a sewerage treatment plant but none to operate it. Not getting doctors to run the health system. This Municipality is of opinion that they should be allowed to charge for street lights. If WBSEB charges interest the municipalities should also be allowed to charge against dues of WBSEB. They can’t understand how the electricity bills are prepared without consulting meters. The cost of electricity polls are paid by the public including the municipality. Electric supply company should pay for trade licence.

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Kanchrapara Municipality -Their major problem subsidence of land following water logging everywhere. Solid waste management is a problem. No treatment facilities of waste. Sewerage system needs to be set up immediately. A by- pass is necessary. Considers engineering staff inadequate. Does not have an Accountant. The proposal is pending with DLB for more than a year. The former Accountant who has retired has been retained on contract and being paid out of own fund. Madhyamgram Municipality - Electricity bill is around Rs.4 crore per year. 25% of earmarked fund for BSUP-infrastructure is stressing the municipal finances. Municipality has taken loan of Rs.6.5 crore from Municipal Development Fund. Garulia Municipality-Huge electricity bill is pending for payment. Needs a community hall, hospital, beautification of ghats. Annual income from Ghats Rs.8-9 lakh. Around Rs.2 Cr collected as OSR. North Dumdum municipality –They have set up a hospital from MPLAD and donations. 242 staff out of sanctioned strength of 352 are in place. Rs.36 lakhs deducted from their entitlement on account of electricity bills even though no such dues could be shown by WBSEDCL. Own revenue around Rs.12. 5 Crore. 50% of the total costs are from their own source. All computer and accounts personnel are contractual with uncertainty of tenure. General issue of uncertainty about the future of the contractual posts. They don't have any service book. A large number of the accounts personnel are also chartered accountant. Barrackpore Municipality -Water supply arranged jointly with north Barrackpore, but couldn't be operationalised since it passes through defence area. Solid waste management is becoming non functional owing to non availability of dumping ground. No PPP offer has worked out. This problem cannot be solved by a single municipality. Electricity tariff needs to be reduced. Many industrial units are not paying municipal tax. The State Government also doesn't pay tax on time. ULB feels that there should be fixed maintenance grant in SFC allotment. North Barrackpore Municipality – This Municipality is one of the lowest population densities. Have a lot of industrial units none of which pay any tax to the municipality. Have huge overdues from Government of India premises on account of service charges. They have a number of closed factories. This has contributed to huge arrear demand, which is unrealisable. Dumping ground for solid waste management is a problem. Recurring cost of dumping away from the municipality area is also a problem. Public transport is a big problem in North Barrackpore. So population and resources are both not rising. Khardah Municipality -Area of the Municipality is 6. 87 sq km. 199out of268 staff in position. Accountant retired eight months back. Electricity bill is a big problem. State government has started a Football Academy in khardah stadium. Extra costs Rs. 6 lakhs. Solid waste management is a major problem and can only be solved through trans municipality. Gratuity is a huge burden, 50% of pension is being provided by state government. Ferry service between Khardah and Rishra is a problem. Electricity bill is around 18 lakh per month.

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Baranagar Municipality - Non tax revenue is Rs. 8cr and property tax is Rs. 3 Cr. Nothing is being paid as service charge by Government Institutes. Department of Posts has informed that as per Supreme Court decision, they are not liable to pay even Service Tax. Certificate of enlistment ceilings need to be increased. Realisation of conservancy charges can be considered. Post of Law officer needs to be created. South Dum Dum, Dum Dum, Rajarhat and Baranagar have combined to create a solid waste management unit. Three major municipal roads need to be taken over by State Government. Dumdum Municipality – Water distribution plant arranged on collaboration basis among North DumDum, South DumDum and DumDum Municipalities together. Electricity bill for Rs. 90 lakh is pending and needs to be settled immediately. Huge tax demand of closed industries pending. The accounting system developed needs skilled manpower which they do not have. They have 270 staff which includes personnel of hospital being run by them. The hospital is being run from their own fund at a monthly cost of Rs.14-15 lakh. The Consulate General of Bhutan’s office is located in the municipality. Titagarh Municipality - Solid waste management is a problem. Population density is high. Sanitation is a problem. Many closed industries. Electricity bill pending comes to Rs.10- 15 lakhs which is being deducted from their untied fund. Out of 270 sanctioned posts, around 200 are in place. Gratuity payment is pending. Naihati Municipality - Monthly electricity bill is around Rs. 22 lakh. To this has been added electric crematorium. Extra fund for the purpose is required. Rs. 60 thousand to Rs1.5 lakh is to be paid as Electricity bill. WBSEB Gouripur thermal plant has a due of Rs.1.5 cr of arrear tax. Commercial enterprises have closed down. Monthly collection isRs. 60 - 65 lakhs. Needs a fly over to connect two parts of the town, since the Baroda bridge is damaged. Bhatpara municipality –They have an area of 32 sq km, three Railway stations. Total tax income is Rs.4 Cr., NTR Rs.4Cr and Govt. grant Rs.36 Cr. Monthly electricity Bill is Rs. 80 lakh with expected addition of Rs.44 lakh from succeeding month. Being an old municipality, they have separate problems. The problem is more of maintenance rather than creating new infrastructure for which no contingency or administrative expenses are provided. Meeting with Berhampur Municipality on 27.10.14 at their Office Established in1876 with six wards. The post of chairman was held by prominent person such as Maharaja Manindra Ch. Nandy and Maharaja Srish Nandy. 400 electric lamp post set up in 1932 without any light tax. Drainage outfalls of the town are in Panchayat areas. Requires coordination with the Panchayats surrounding it for drainage. Population 1.95 lakh. Water supply system set up in 1894. Maharani Swarnomoyee Devi donated Rs. 2 lakhs. New pipe line covers 51 km. Target is to supply 70 litres per capita. Average household count is 5 heads. Coverage is about 70% of the households. Plans to cover the rest by 2015-16. The national traffic to north Bengal and NE India flows through this town. The NH traffic flows through the town without using the original road.

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Chairman suggested setting up of a logistic hub for traffic flowing to north Bengal. That might help the municipality in collecting some revenue as well. Berhampur is a polythene free town, and the municipality claims that it has succeeded in keeping the town free of polythene. Has a mobile latrine van. Has procured land for solid waste management. Solid waste collection is being done from 80-82% of households. The crematorium is being used by people from other areas also. As such they have asked for two more crematoriums. Disposal of bio- medical waste is a problem. The town has a medical college and much of the waste is disposed off within the town. The town doesn't have a slaughter house which is a public health hazard. The town has no underground sewerage network. Has asked for funds for the same. Non payment of tax by the government is about Rs. 7 Cr. Railways pays its dues in time. Hospital, schools, college and jail are major defaulters of taxes. Lighting of the Ramendra Sundar Setu, (not a part of the municipality) is also set up by the municipality. Eco village was proposed to be set up with funding support from the Govt. of India at Kashimbazar. The project is lying half complete. Rajib Abbas Yojana is yet to be started. Slum population is around 40935. Construction of the dwelling units costs about Rs.3. 40 lakh per unit whereas the amount received from the government is Rs.1.40 lakh. The scale of funding needs to be enhanced. Have received sanctions for 47 units during the current year. The municipality has 10 markets and 12 market complexes. Sanctioned posts 665 and staff in position comes to 601. Meeting with Balurghat Municipality on 15.1.15 at their Office State Government Departments are the biggest defaulter of tax. Valuation was done in 2005-06. Assessment under way. Water supply is provided by the PHE Non predictability of fund flow is a major problem. The municipality has no sewerage services. Water Supply is done by PHE department and they supply around 40 litres per head. They have issued paddler licence to the battery operated rickshaws known as TOTOs. 250 such licenses have been issued. Meeting with Raiganj Municipality on 16.1.15 at their Office

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1. They have started selling bottled water. Manufactures about 26000 Lit per day. Investment in plant and machinery Rs. 71 lakhs 2. Presentation made by FO. Quickly covered what is being done. 3.14 MT of waste is generated every year. They have a dumping ground but larger space is needed. 4. Drains here do not carry faeces. It is mostly waste water from households. 5. Has an unusually large proportion of BPL. Has set up a large number of DWACRA group, who are associated with different development programmes. They are not in favour of earmarking funds for maintenance. Earmarks 25% off budgeted amount for pro-poor activity. Total income is Rs. 30 Cr. Meeting with Old Malda Municipality on 17.1.15 at their Office It is one of the oldest Municipalities and was established in 1869.They have not been able to realise arrear tax and tax from Government of India offices. Last valuation was done in 2010. Chairman said that one problem is that tax of newly constructed buildings is imposed after a considerable time. At present water supply is 65 litres per head per day. City development plan prepared. Roughly 40 percent of untied fund should be for maintenance, they consider. The population density of this municipality is low. Allocating funds only on the basis of population is not a fair deal for this municipality. As this town is attached to the bigger town of Malda, setting up of Marketing complexes is not a profitable exercise. They do not have any electricity dues. In the year1995, six wards were added to this municipality from the Panchayats. The chairman was an ex Pradhan of the area. He could persuade people to pay tax at enhanced rates for developing the infrastructure. People were convinced and paid Taxes. There is a shortage of personnel. The municipality is realising water tax. The municipality is not adequately staffed. There is no approved staffing pattern after the additional area was attached in 1995. Matter is pending with Government for a long time. Hence the Municipality is functioning with a large number of contractual staff. Meeting with Siliguri Municipal Corporation on 7.2.15 at their Office According to census 2011, the population is around 5.13 lakh. But at any point of time around 9-10 lakh people utilise the civic services as this town being a major business hub. Ministry of Urban Development has engaged a couple of agencies to study different aspects of civic services and also for helping this Municipal Corporation in preparing the city

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development plan. Attempt was made to modernise the conservancy system by engaging extra vehicles. PHE provides services to the Corporation but funds have to be arranged by the latter. A proposal is pending with the planning department for development of the Corporation. Sewerage is a big problem. The Board stands dissolved. Approximate total amount spent is Rs.120-130 Cr. annually. Of this the Corporation’s OSR is around Rs.32 Cr. Amount received from Govt is Rs.47 cr. Total bills payable is around Rs. 80-90 Crore. Electricity bill due is around Rs. 7 Cr. Has not assessed their entitlement based on the SFC index. They generally accept whatever is allotted to them without questioning the figure. The deficit around what they plan for and what they finally get is around Rs.40 Crore. The uncertainty and unpredictability of fund is a major problem. Huge Service charge on central government establishments is due. They need Rs.1.85 Crore per month towards contractual employees’ gratuity, pension etc. Rs 25 lakhs is due towards outstanding pension; gratuity payment outstanding is around Rs. 30 lakhs. About 70% of the current tax demand is being collected. Outstanding dues mostly from Govt. bodies e.g. North Bengal State Bengal State Transport Corporation. Meeting with Bolpur Municipality on 28.3.15 at their Office 1. No. of BPL households are 7873 out of 19032 households. 2. No. of notified slums 69 and non notified 6. Slum population is 27816 out of total population 80210. 3. Metal road is 141.31 sq. km. and non metal road 159.31 sq. km. Pucca drain 88.79 sq.km. and kutcha drain 107.40 sq.km. 4. Municipality maintains water supply having two water treatment plants and fourteen deep tube wells. They supplied 415005 million litres during 2012-13. 5. Property Tax collection Rs.61.42 lakh during 2013-14 and other tax being Rs.42.30 lakh during that year. 6. Municipality incurred expenditure of Rs.609.85 lakh against government allocation of Rs.322.83 lakh. 7. There is huge dues against electricity bills. Meeting with Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority on 28.3.15 at their Office 1. This Development Authority was constituted under the W.B. Town & Country Planning Act,1979 in the year 1999 having a plan area of 106.281 sq. km. 2. Their duties include Land use & Development Control Plan, preparation and execution of development schemes and to coordinate development activities with various authorities. 3. This development authority is required to have better coordination with the rural & urban local bodies falling within their jurisdiction towards effective planning and implementation of schemes. 4. Income generated by this authority through leasing out of own resources including interest

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earned from fixed deposits should be properly invested towards effective development of the areas concerned.

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Appendix – XI

Officers and Staff of Fourth State Finance Commission

Sl. No. Name Designation

1. Shri Sankar Prasad Thakur, W.B.S.S. Deputy Secretary

2. Shri Utpal Chakraborty, W.B.C.S. (Exe.) Research Officer

3 Shri Goutam Guha Sr. Personal Secretary

4. Shri Arani Sinha Roy Officer-on-Special Duty

5. Shri Tarun Kanti Paine Section Officer

6. Shri Sitangshu Sett U. D. Assistant

7. Shri Partha Nandi Personal Assistant

8. Shri Suvra Nath U. D. Assistant

9. Shri Pradip Kumar Sen Gr. D Grade-I

10 Smt. Sikha Chakraborty Gr. D Grade-I

11 Shri Swapan Sarkar Gr. D

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Appendix-XII

Representation from Panchayats & R.D. Department on ISGP (Phase-II)

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Documents

REPORT OF - wbfin.nic.inwbfin.nic.in/writereaddata/Final_Report_Part_III.pdf · REPORT OF THE FOURTH STATE FINANCE COMMISSION ... GP Office 5 23.12.13 Representatives of ISI, CSSS