Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Jan 20: MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary on Friday, January 19, informed that he along with other MLAs will stage a protest in front of Gandhi Statue located in between Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha in Bengaluru on January 23 to pressurize the state government to empower Panchayat Raj system.

Addressing media he said, “Along with other demands, the main aim of the prorest is to attract the government’s attention to address the problems in rural development and Panchayat Raj institution. The MLAs did not get a chance to speak about the problem in the State Legislative Council till the last day of session. The government should provide the required human resources to Panchayat Raj and transfer programmes into their hands.”

MLC Kota Srinivas further told that he had written a letter to D H Shankarmurthy, speaker of Karnataka Legislative Council, seeking permission for hold a day-long ‘dharna’ in Bengaluru.

“A panchayat receives Rs 10-12 lac grants out of which 60% goes to escrow account and remaining 40% will go to panchayat staff. But the same grant is enough for large gram panchayats having 30-50 members.

“As many as 1,800 eligible PDOs and secretaries have cleared exams, but the government has not passed any order to deploy them into service.

“According to the recommendation of Ramesh Kumar Committee, they should transfer ‘3Fs’ to the Panchayat Raj that is ‘functions, functionary and funds’ under Panchayat Raj act. The Amendment Bill comprises 20 chapters which entrust functions of Panchayati Raj system in the state. The agriculture and its allied activities like horticulture, diary, sericulture, fishery, animal husbandry, poultry farm, minor irrigation, social forestry, farm forestry, and bio diversity, function under the control of Panchayat Raj institutions.

“There are 100 different responsibilities in managing gram panchayat through Bapuji Seva Kendra, but due to lack of staff and finance, they are not being carried out so far. The government should provide basic infrastructure, first grade officers, computer officers and others.

“Another demand is, the fund amount should be raised to Rs 50 lac and 50 % of the grants should be declared as free fund. Gram Sabha should be permitted to select beneficiaries. According to credible sources, the payment of Rs 3,500 crore electricity bill is kept pending. There is a need of a separate Panchayat Raj recruitment office. Karnataka Panchayat Raj administration service in rural development and Panchayat Raj service department should be started. Village PDOs should be upgraded to B group,” he said.