‘New Panchayati Raj Act set to bring transparency in government’, says Telangana Minister 

HYDERABAD: Giving full powers to village Sarpanches and regular conduct of Gram Sabhas were some of the points discussed by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the new Panchayati Raj Act. The Cabinet Sub-committee held its second meeting at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Panchayati Raj Minister Jupally Krishna Rao.

The meeting discussed about the legal aspects while framing the new PR Act. Advocate general Prakash Reddy too was invited to the meeting. The Sub-Committee felt that people-friendly village administration and overall development of villages should be accorded priority in new PR Act. Sarpanches would given full executive powers and their duties too would be defined well in the new Act. Bringing transparency in the administration was the one of the aims of the proposed Act.

The Committee also felt the need to conduct of regular gram sabhas for taking the views of the local villagers. Reduction of grama sabha tenure from six months to two months was also discussed in the meeting.

The idea of introducing the coopted member system in Panchayats too was figured in the meeting. The meeting also proposed to have district planning officers for sanctioning building permissions at local level. Now, the people from remote villages and towns too were coming to Hyderabad for layout and building approvals. The committee also discussed the election reservation pattern too.

Continuing the same reservation for two successive elections was one of the proposals considered by the Committee. The Committee would also meet on Wednesday and Thursday too and submit its recommendations to the Chief Minister, who would finalise the draft bill to be introduced in the Budget session of the State Legislative Assembly.