6,000 GPs set to get own office buildings soon

Hyderabad: Nearly 6,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) would get their own office buildings to carry out their activities effectively as the government has initiated action in this direction.

The Panchayat Raj department has asked the officials in the districts to prepare the details of the GPs with no buildings and those functioning in dilapidated buildings.

The funds for the construction of the buildings would be released as soon as the details reach the government.

Out of the total 12,769 GPs, about half of them do not have own office buildings. Until last year, the number of GPs in the State was 8,000 and the government has added 4,700 more in this year.

Nearly 75 per cent of the old panchayats have own buildings. The new GPs, about 4,700, are yet to get the office buildings. Since their inauguration, the new GPs are carrying out their activities in the rented buildings.

The small panchayats which have less than 500 population do not have buildings in their villages to hire for GP offices as most of the residents live in huts or in semi-permanent houses.

Though the government wanted to construct buildings to all the GPs in the past, there was not much progress in this regard.

Nearly 2,000 old panchayats still continue to work in the rented buildings. With the fresh decision of the government to provide buildings to all the panchayats, they may get own accommodation soon.

According to sources, the government may give Rs 10 lakh to construct buildings to GPs which have less than 1,000 population, Rs 15 lakh to less than 2,000 population and Rs 20 lakh to more than 2,000 population.

The GPs which do not have own buildings and those which are working in dilapidated buildings have to adopt a resolution in the Gram Sabhas and send the details to the Panchayat Raj department.

The funds of NREGS may also be used to construct buildings. According to estimates, as much as Rs 500 crore is required to construct buildings to all the GPs of the State.

Officials of the PR department said that the GPs need to have own buildings as the digital services have been rolled out in them. The government is trying to convert all the GPs into e-Panchayats.

They require computers and internet connection. They said that as the government wants the GPs to function efficiently, it wants to provide them with proper accommodation, staff and other paraphernalia.