NDA government committed to strengthening Panchayat Raj system says Pawan Kalyan

Vijayawada : Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan said the NDA govt is committed to strengthening Panchayat Raj system and hence it is focusing more on village panchayats.

In a statement here on Saturday, Pawan said the village panchayats are lagging behind in development due to paucity of funds.

He said Grama Sabhalu will be organised in 13,326 villages to discuss on the works to be taken up under MNREGS.

He said the previous YSRCP government claimed that drinking water works were taken up at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore utilising Central government’s Jaljeevan scheme funds. However, there is no trace of completion of pipeline works at ground level.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that after a gap of several decades, funds were released in a big way to celebrate the Independence Day in village panchayats.

He said Rs 10,000 was released for villages having less than 5,000 population and Rs 25,000 for villages having more than 5,000 population. He appealed to sarpanches to celebrate the Independence Day on a grand scale.

He said due respect should be given to sarpanches elected by people. Pawan alleged that the previous YSRCP govt diverted funds released by the Central government for panchayats. As a result, panchayats are facing severe financial crisis and not having money to purchase even bleaching powder.