The Government of Andhra Pradesh has increased the funds given to the minor and major panchayats for celebrating the Independence Day from a paltry ₹100 and ₹250 to ₹10,000 and ₹25,000 respectively.
A G.O. to this effect was issued on August 9, a press release by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Panchayat Raj & Rural Development K. Pawan Kalyan said.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan stated that the ‘Jenda Vandanam’ programme would be organised in a grand manner across the villages on August 15, and pointed out that minor panchayats, which had less than 5,000 population, were being given ₹100 and major panchayats ₹250 for the last 35 years.
“These allocations have been increased to facilitate Independence Day celebrations in a fitting manner. Freedom fighters, ex-servicemen and sanitary workers will be felicitated on August 15,” he said.
‘Grama sabhalu’
Further, he said steps were being taken to strengthen the gram panchayats. One of the significant steps would be to conduct ‘grama sabhalu’ (village meetings) in 13,326 villages on a single day soon to prioritise the development works to be taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Necessary resolutions would be passed at these meetings to pave the infrastructure creation in villages.
Members of Parliament, MLAs, sarpanches and other elected representatives and officials would participate in these meetings.
‘JMM funds misused’
The claim that a sum of ₹4,000 crore had been spent on the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the last five years was false, the Deputy Chief Minister asserted. A sizable chunk of the funds was misused and pipelines were laid at several places only to show the expenditure thereof, he added.
“A survey has been ordered to ascertain the status of works and the money spent on JJM during 2019-24, so that the mission can be taken forward properly,” he said.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the government would ensure that sarpanches were given due respect and also empowered to bring back the lost glory of the panchayats, which were in such a bad situation that they could not even procure bleaching powder.
The government would see to it that the villages flourished once again in tune with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj, he added.
