Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Panchayat Raj & Rural Development (PR&RD) K. Pawan Kalyan said on November 7, 2024 (Thursday) that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had betrayed the ward and village volunteers, and they did not exist officially.
The ward and village secretariats and the volunteers had undermined the Gram Panchayats by being a parallel system, Mr. Pawan Kalyan observed.
Addressing a meeting of the A.P. Panchayat Raj Chamber (APPRC) and A.P. Sarpanches’ Association at the Jana Sena Party office, near Mangalagiri in Guntur district, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the NDA Government in the State was committed to doing good to the volunteers, but to its dismay, they did not appear in the records. It was a technical issue being looked into by the government, he added.
“Steps being taken to strengthen the Panchayat Raj system by providing the required funds to the Gram Panchayats and delegating the powers to which they are constitutionally entitled.”K. Pawan KalyanA.P. Deputy Chief Minister
Mr. Pawan Kalyan said a proposal to increase the honorarium of the members of the rural local bodies was under examination, and steps were being taken to strengthen the Panchayat Raj system by providing the required funds to the Gram Panchayats and delegating the powers to which they were constitutionally entitled.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the government would ensure that the funds belonging to the panchayats were properly utilised and that a sum of ₹750 crore was going to be soon released to them by the 15th Finance Commission.
He asserted that the NDA Government inherited a financial crisis from the YSRCP dispensation, whose fiscal profligacy pushed the State to the brink of bankruptcy.
Further, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the PR&RD Department designed a Village Forestry Programme to cultivate plants in vacant village spaces, thereby earning the much-needed income for the panchayats. The programme would meet the domestic wood demand to a large extent, and thus reduce dependence on imports, he said.
Priority was accorded to growing bamboo and plants that produce biodiesel. There were large-scale irregularities in the implementation of the MGNREGS, he said, adding that remedial action had been taken.
MLC P. Hari Prasad, PR&RD Commissioner M.V.R. Krishna Teja and APPRC president Y.V.B. Rajendra Prasad were among those present.
Published - November 07, 2024 07:40 pm IST
