Next on Central Govt agenda: Facelift of panchayats\, village master plan\, economic centres
NEW DELHI: The government has set up an expert panel to help draw up a master plan for every village, complete with a growth centre for its flagship produce, a digital training centre, and a township with accommodation facilities for teachers and health professionals.
The government has roped in experts from IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, School of Architecture and Planning in Bhopal, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and JJ School of Arts among others to draw up the plan, which will look at efficient use of space and changes to landscape to boost growth, for 32 villages in 13 states, officials aware of the proposal told ET.
The idea is to provide a facelift to the more than 250,000 gram panchayats across the country, starting with 60,000 villages located on national and state highways, they said. In a pilot project, the panel will submit a report with master plans for 32 villages in 13 states in October.
All the villages chosen are all those with mid-size populations, officials said. As per the plan, which is in line with PM Modi's idea of Atmanirbhar Bharat, every village will have a growth centre of sorts to accommodate weavers, artisans and manufacturing units, and a township to provide lodging facilities for teachers, and medical professionals who come from far off places.
The expert panel will specifically suggest “how villages on national and state highways have transformed over the years, what their economy is like and how the living conditions could be improved”.
ET has seen a copy of the suggested budgetary proposal.