Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has taken a decision to allocate a discretionary grant of Rs. 1 crore to the presidents of all 34 District Panchayats of the state for development works of local importance in their respective districts.

There is an existing practice of allocating a grant of Rs. 2.5 crore to MLAs for development works under the Decentralised District Planning Programme.

The presidents of the District Panchayats had made representations to the Chief Minister seeking the allocation of discretionary grants to District Panchayat presidents, with the objective of accelerating rural development works in their districts and prioritising projects of local importance. Responding positively and swiftly to these representations, Chief Minister has directed the General Administration Department to allocate this discretionary grant of Rs. 1 crore to the presidents of the District Panchayats.