Gram sabhas to be held across the state on Aug 23

Vijayawada: Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan said gram sabhas will be conducted in 13,326 gram panchayats across the state on August 23.

Addressing a video-conference with zilla parishad (ZP) CEOs, district panchayat officers (DPOs) and MPDOs from the Secretariat on Monday, the Deputy Chief Minister said development will be possible with effective functioning of village panchayats and zilla parishads. He said Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) should be utilised properly to provide employment to farm workers and gram sabhas should decide the works.

“Village panchayat officials should publicise on gram sabhas two days before the meetings.

The MNREGS works should get approval of gram sabhas. I have received a number of complaints on lack of supervision in implementation of MNREGS works. MPDOs will be made responsible for irregularities in these works. Social audit should be conducted on them,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister warned of serious action against officials right from field assistants to state level ones, if any irregularities are found to have taken place in implementation of NREGS works.

He said DWAMA project directors are not attending supervise the work sites and also not attending social audit meetings. The village level officials are resorting to fake attendance in NREGS works. He expressed concern over irregularities in social audit wing which is responsible for implementation of NREGS works.

The Deputy CM appealed to officials to work with commitment to make AP as number one in implementation of NREGS in the country. Villagers, public representatives and officials should participate in gram sabhas for effective decisions and implementation of developmental works in villages, he exhorted.