Cabinet sub-panel on PR Bill delves into key issues

Hyderabad: The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Panchayat Raj Bill held discussions with the Advocate General of the government on Tuesday at Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister.

Sub-Committee members Panchayat Raj Minister J Krishna Rao, Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, Agriculture Minister P Srinivas Reddy, R & B Minister T Nageswar Rao, Finance Minister E Rajendar and Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy participated in the meeting.

The committee felt that the new Panchayat Raj Act should help the all-round development of villages and it should not face any legal problem. The sarpanches should be given executive powers and their responsibilities should be defined clearly, the meeting felt.

Issues like funds, powers to the sarpanches, answerability of the officials and others have been discussed by the committee. Members said changes should be brought to the present PR Act to hold Gram Sabhas regularly to inform people about the development activities taken up in the villages. The period between two Gram Sabhas should be reduced to one or two months from six months.

The proposal to appoint co-option member in the village panchayats like in Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads also came up for discussion. Though there was option in this regard in the present Act, it is not being implemented. The committee felt that it would be better to appoint a person as co-option member who is an expert or a senior citizen.

The committee discussed the building permission system in villages and felt that it would be better to give powers to the district-level committee to give permissions to multistoried buildings in the villages. This committee should dispose the application in a stipulated period of time.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee felt that reservations in villages should be continued for two terms. The committee will meet again on Wednesday and Thursday also for deliberations.