PANAJI: Goa has been allotted a whopping Rs 90 crore for panchayats and zilla panchayats under the 13th Finance Commission award for a period of five years and the first installment amounting to Rs 4.2 crore has been received by the Directorate of Panchayats.

However, all efforts made to obtain the pending installment of over Rs 5 crore under the 12th Finance Commission award from the Centre have proved futile.
The director of Panchayats, Mr Menino D’souza informed that the 13th Finance Commission has recommended a percentage of divisible pool of resources for the local bodies with two components - a basic grant and a performance grant - instead of a lumpsum grant.
He further said based on the new format, Goa’s share is 0.105 per cent, which is ` 90 crore as against the one-time grant of ` 18 crore under the l2th Finance Commission award. Under the basic grant the state has been allotted ` 59 crore while under the performance grant it is ` 31.2 crore, subject to the conditions laid down by the Centre.
Mr D’souza said for the financial year 2010-11, the state will receive a total of ` 8.4 crore as the general basic grant of which ` 4.2 crore has already been granted. However, the state is not eligible for the performance grant in the initial year. Of the ` 4.2 crore, 30 per cent has been allotted to zilla panchayats while the remaining 70 per cent has been divided equally among the 189 panchayats.
To avail the performance grant for 2011-12, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj has laid down certain conditions which have to be fulfilled by March 31, 2011, informed Mr D’souza and added that some of the conditions laid down include adoption of accounting framework and codification pattern consistent with the model accounting system, preparation of supplement in the state budget document, audit  by C&AG, mechanism for electronic transfer of funds, enabling local bodies to levy property tax among others.
The director of Panchayats informed that the panchayats will have to submit to the Directorate of Panchayats, a 90 per cent fund utilisation certificate in order to receive all further installments under the award.
Elaborating on the usage of funds, he said the money obtained could be utilised towards maintenance of rural water supply, sanitation, addressing garbage issues in villages, preparation of database for accounting, etc. He said the state could not fully utilise the funds allotted under the 12th Finance Commission award as the funds could not be collected in time. Though the state had written to the Centre to release the pending amount, the Centre released only Rs 1.8 crore in March when the 12th Finance Commission expired and the 13th Finance Commission came into force. Hence, he said, the state had to let go the pending installment under the 12th Finance Commission.