Karnataka - Bidar   

Gram panchayats to get additional responsibilities

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, APRIL 27. Gram panchayats will henceforth be responsible for planning and implementing drinking water, lake development, and Indira Awas housing schemes. This change is intended to empower the rural population and increase transparency in the implementation of the projects.

People can now decide what they want for their village and also know details about the funds released, according to V.P. Baligar, Secretary, Gram Panchayat and Rural Development.

He told The Hindu that zilla panchayats, which were wholly in-charge of implementing such schemes till now, would in future only decide in which of the villages would a particular work be implemented. The gram panchayat concerned would take over from there. This would not only reduce the burden on the zilla panchayats but also increase the participation of gram panchayats, Mr. Baligar said. Gram panchayats would select engineers and contractors to carry out the works by inviting tenders, he added.

He said there had been some complaints about the implementation of some schemes that the beneficiaries did not have any information about. This had decreased the involvement of people, thereby reducing the degree of success of the programme.

Decentralised implementation would increase people's participation, which, in turn, would result in better implementation of schemes, Mr. Baligar added.

Decentralised implementation could also result in other benefits. Earlier, beneficiaries of housing schemes had to travel long distances to reach the zilla panchayat or taluk panchayat and also seek the help of a third person to contact the authorities concerned. Now that gram panchayats had been made in-charge of housing, the beneficiaries were saving a lot of money, energy, and effort, he said.

Government sources said that the move was also expected to reduce irregularities and put a check on poor quality work noticed in many schemes.

It was also in tune with the concept of activity mapping, which defined what each of the three tiers of the panchayat system — gram panchayats, taluk panchayats, and zilla panchayats — should do. This would prevent duplication of efforts, the sources added.

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