Chandigarh, March 15: Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal called upon the sarpanches to understand their responsibility towards the people as public representatives and get the development works done in the villages in a transparent manner. He said that any hassles in the e-tendering process will be removed. “The government has strengthened the hands of sarpanches with e-tendering, which will bring transparency in development works and the works will be completed in a time-bound manner,” he added.
The Chief Minister announced to increase the limit of development works on quotation basis of sarpanches from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. He also announced to increase the honorariums of sarpanches from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 and of panches from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,600; by linking it with dearness allowance on the lines of government employees. The sarpanch will also be able to record his comments in the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the Gram Sachiv.
The Chief Minister was addressing a press conference at Haryana Niwas here today. On the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, Additional Chief Secretary, Development and Panchayats, Sh. Anil Malik, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture, Dr. Amit Agrawal and Director General, Rural Development, Sh. Sanjay Joon were also present.
The Chief Minister asked the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to upload the proposals for development works worth Rs 1,100 crore allocated for the last quarter of this financial year before March 31, 2023. Of these, Rs 800 crore was allocated to Gram Panchayats, Rs 165 crore to Block Samitis and Rs 110 crore to Zila Parishads.
“So far, out of 6,217 panchayats, 5,048 panchayats have passed proposals for development works. The proposals for 9,418 works worth less than Rs 2 lakh have been received, while 1,044 works worth more than Rs 2 lakh have been uploaded after administrative approval,” he said.
For the social audit of the development works, the Chief Minister said that a committee will be formed at the village level, consisting of the residents; who will keep a vigil on the development works being done in the village. “A separate engineering wing will also be set up for the Development and Panchayats department,” he added.
Sh. Manohar Lal said that a ‘Social Audit System’ will also be established in six months to check the quality of development works. Apart from this, ‘Quality Assurance Authority’ is being established. “The development works are done as per Haryana Schedule Rate and DC rate. If any sarpanch wants to get the work done at a rate lower than the DC rate, then his information will have to be pasted outside the office of the Block Development Officer,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that panchayats can get works done on quotations for a total amount of Rs 25 lakh in a financial year or up to 50 percent of the total grant amount of the State Finance Commission, whichever is less. He said that the technical staff will be responsible for ensuring the quality of the development works to be done through e-tendering. “The sarpanch will have full responsibility for ensuring quality in the development works done in the village,” he added.
He further said that the panchayat tax being levied on electricity bills will be given to the Panchayats from April 1, 2023; along with the arrears. Out of this, pending electricity bills of panchayats will be deducted and paid every quarter. He said that the amount of one percent stamp duty on the sale of property in each Gram Panchayat will be given to them.
Responding to a question, the Chief Minister said that the former sarpanches who have not handed over their records to the present sarpanches should do so immediately. He said that an investigation is underway against 1,100 sarpanches of the previous tenure of panchayats.
The Chief Minister said that roads less than 4 Karam wide will be made concrete through Zila Parishads. “Zila Parishad will also be entrusted with the work of repairing the roads of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board. Also, under the Swachhta Abhiyan, work of garbage disposal from every house in the villages, works related to street lights, mid-day meals and bus queue shelters will also be given to Zila Parishads,” he said.