Udupi, October 8: More than 30 panchayat Udupi districts, lack toilet facility. So for the next four months the works must be carried out and by January 26th Udupi district, must completely be equipped with washroom facility. With this the open toilets must meet an end, said the Rural Development Minister H.K. Patil.
He inaugurated the Panchayath festival-“Surajya” on October 7th, Monday which took place at Kota Karanth theme park organised by Dr Shivaram Karanth trust in Kotathattu, in collaboration with other organisations.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister H K Patil addressed the audience and said the elected representatives should have control over the bureaucrats for effective administration in the Panchayath Raj system.
The minister said to strengthen the grip of elected representatives over the officers, the government has issued a new order. Henceforth, the Confidential Review (CR) report of Zilla Panchayath CEO would be given by ZP president.
Accordingly, the Taluk Panchayath president will write CR report for EO and Gram Panchayath president will be responsible for the CR report of PDO. The government has taken all measures to streamline the three tier local governance and make it more effective. There is a need to amend the Panchayath Raj Act to empower the local bodies.
Asserting that Panchayath Raj system is instrumental in realizing social justice, Patil said the system has successfully provided a secure status for women and minority communities. The report on delimitation of the gram panchayaths will be submitted to the government by this month end. The recommendations by the committee constituted under the leadership of former speaker Ramesh Kumar over the reforms for Pancahayath Raj laws will also be submitted to the government shortly. Besides, the government has taken measures to ensure double the honorarium amount to the panchayath members and the amount will be delivered by the end of November.
He added the idea of Gram Swarajya as conceptualized by Mahatma Gandhi could be realized only through making the villages waste-free, dispute-free and addiction-free.
Revealing that there sufficient funds in gram panchayaths, the minister said gram panchayaths could achieve wonder in terms of executing the development programmes. He criticised that the GPs have not reached the target for most of the development programmes in accordance with their strength. Only 50 per cent of GPs have achieved the target.
Kotatattu Gram panchayat president Shobha presided over the program.
Udupi Zilla Panchayat president Savita Shivanand Kotian, Sunita Naik- taluk panchayat president, chief executive officer of Udupi district-Kanagavalli, Kundapur taluk panchayat President Bhaskara Billava, Jaya Kumar, Congress leader M A Gafoor and former ZP member Shankar Kunder, panchayat officials – Umesh , Sridhar Ganiga, Babu Shriyan, Ravi, Shailaja, Jayalakshmi were present.
The effective administration in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada such as- Irvanadu in Sullia taluk, Laila in Belthangady taluk, Udupi taluk- Tenka gram panchayat, Kundapur taluk- Talluru gram panchayat, Kundapur Taluk -Maravanthe gram panchayat was felicitated under the categories of integrated management, solid waste disposal, the best gram panchayat in integral administration.
The former minister, Kota Srinivas Poojary spoke occasionally.
Anand C. Kundar president of foundation welcomed the gathering. Dr Suryanarayana Upadya compeered throughout the program. PDO Jayaram Shetty proposed vote of thanks.
