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Panchayat Raj Bill likely to be tabled in budget session
The government, in all likelihood, will table the Bill on new Panchayat Raj Act of the State during the budget session of the Assembly to bring reforms in the Panchayat Raj system.
Hyderabad: The government, in all likelihood, will table the Bill on new Panchayat Raj Act of the State during the budget session of the Assembly to bring reforms in the Panchayat Raj system.
The officials of the Panchayat Raj Department are working on preparing the draft for the examination of the government. A committee comprising officials of the PR Department and resource persons of Telangana State Institute of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development is working on the draft proposals.
The officials of the Panchayat Raj Department have been told by the Chief Minister to examine the working of rural local bodies in other countries. They have been told particularly to study the system in South Africa. A tour regarding this is yet to be taken up.
The draft proposals and the rules of the proposed Act would be examined by Chandrashekar Rao, who initiated the process of implementation of new Panchayat Raj Act. In fact, he wanted to introduce the Bill in the recently-concluded session of the Assembly. However, as some more study was needed, he could not do so, according to sources.
The government has proposed to hold an exclusive session of the Assembly on the Panchayat Raj Bill this month. Chandrashekar Rao, who initiated several reforms in the administration like establishing new districts and mandals, is said to be serious on bringing reforms in the Panchayat Raj system also. The Panchayat Raj system, which is meant for decentralisation of power and devolution of funds, holds the key in rural development.
The present Panchayat Raj system is unable to keep up pace with the changes in the economy and development of the State. Rural local bodies like Zilla Parishads, Mandal Parishads and Gram Panchayats are said to be unable to deal with the present situation with no powers and fund.
Though the PR institutions have been entrusted with subjects like education, welfare, infrastructure development and others, their role in these areas is quite miniscule. They failed to take any action on the erring officials and could not bring any change in the working of government systems at the rural level.
Keeping these issues in view, the Chief Minister proposed enactment of the new Panchayat Raj Act. The Act would give powers and funds to the ZPs, MPPs and Gram Panchayats to deal effectively with the subjects they have been entrusted to, if implemented.
On the other hand, the rural local bodies have been facing scarcity of funds due to the policies of the Centre. Under the 14th Finance Commission, the funds are directly given to the Gram Panchayats and ZPs and MPPs are not given any share. This has deprived of funds for the ZPs and MPPs.
The State government has noticed the issue and decided to enhance the fund flow to the ZPs and MPPs so that they could also participate in the rural development activities along with implementing the State and Central schemes. The new Act will have provisions in this regard, it is learnt.
