Gujarat Congress releases vision doccument for Panchayati Raj institutions

Ahmedabad

Ahead of the rural and semi-urban local bodies elections, Gujarat Congress today released a vision document for the Panchayati Raj institutions.

Some of the promises made in the document ‘Rejuvenation of Panchayat’- include hike in salary for Sarpanchs, more grant allocation, additional power to the institutions in utilising these grants, disbursement of grants directly to Sarpanchs and creation of pachayat finance board.

Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki accused the BJP-led state government of keeping all the powers with them, which is “against the spirit of Panchayati Raj”.

“According to a recent survey, Gujarat’s Panchayati Raj institutions, that is district, taluka and village panchayats, ranked 18th in India. This shows how the BJP government destroyed this set-up here.

“This government has curtailed 98 per cent of total budget previously alloted to these institutions,” Solanki alleged after releasing the document.

“As part of a larger conspiracy, all the major powers have been snatched away from locally elected bodies. Now, ministers and bureaucrats are running the show, which is against the spirit of Panchayati Raj, where powers must be given to these bodies to uplift villages and expedite development,” he said.

Solanki also promised to restore the “dignity” of these institutions if Congress comes into power.

“Congress party believes in de-centralisation of powers. Time has come to uproot BJP to restore the dignity of these institutions and make them more independent. Congress is determined to give back the power to these institutions,” he added.

The polling for 31 district panchayats, 230 taluka panchayats and 56 municipalities is slated for November 29.

PTI