Pondicherry: The president of Pondicherry based Panchayat Movement, V A Vasudevaraju, has called upon the Lt Governor M.M. Lakhera to arrange for the education of the people about the village panchayat system. In his letter to Mr. Lakhera on Wednesday, Mr. Vasudevaraju said that Pondicherry never had village panchayat system in the past, as there was no provision for this in the previous French system of municipal administration. Elections to civic bodies are going to be held in three phases in June and July for the first time after a gap of 38 years.

Mr. Vasudevaraju said that although Panchayati Raj came into existence in June 1994, the Local Administration and Information Departments here had not brought out any information and education materials highlighting the features of village panchayats. This should be done within two weeks. He also said that there was no comprehensive Panchayat and Municipalities Acts available. Only the Acts passed in 1973 and the Amendments effected in 1994 were available. Other States had brought out comprehensive and revised Acts in 1994 itself. He pleaded for publication of the comprehensive Acts incorporating the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution and asserted that amendments effected by the State Government till April 2006 should be made available within two weeks to the public.

The Panchayat and Municipalities Acts should be published in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam in view of the languages being spoken in the Union Territory. There should be wider newspaper advertisements on the functions of panchayats and municipalities besides the number, category and mode of election of the 1,138 functionaries who would be elected.

Since there are no buildings for the 98 village panchayat offices, space could be hired out before June end, and permanent structures could be made ready.

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