Shettar favours strengthening Gram Sabhas

HUBLI: Gram Panchayat officials swindling government money, beware! Rural development and panchayat raj minister Jagadish Shettar will pay surprise visits to Gram Sabhas (GSs) to see how they are functioning.
In an interview to `The Times of India', Shettar said such surprise visits would help him understand how GSs work. "They will also make me realize the problems being faced by GSs," he said.
According to him, his priority would be to strengthen the GSs."The biggest issues in rural development are whether welfare schemes reach the villages and whether the local bodies have enough powers to implement them. Strengthening each GS is the surest means to address these issues," Shettar said.
FREE HAND FOR GRAM SABHAS
He is in favour of GSs having a free hand in selecting beneficiaries for government welfare programmes like Ashraya housing scheme. "A GS is best equipped to choose beneficiaries since every voter in a Gram Panchayat is a member of GS by default. Secondly, beneficiary selection process is completely transparent in a GS as every villager knows the condition of every other resident," he said. Therefore, he believes, most problems in the implementation of government programmes will be sorted out if GSs are allowed to function without interference and their decisions are respected.
INTERFERENCE BY MLAS
Shettar is aware of the tussle between rural local bodies and MLAs over sharing of power. However, he does not want to antagonize MLAs by unilaterally strengthening panchayat raj bodies.
"MLAs feel that they should have the power to select beneficiaries of programmes and not the panchayat raj bodies. They try to stop the GSs from performing their duties. Such disputes slow down the development," he said, adding: "However in a democracy, you have to take everybody along. MLAs should be convinced that GSs should be allowed to function independently. I am sure they will agree to it."
FINANCIAL LIMITS TO STAY
Shettar is wary of providing increased financial powers to panchayat raj institutions, as a higher limit of spending could lead to fund misuse. "We need to keep their spending limits smaller in order to monitor their functioning. Even ministers have a spending limit for their departments. Any project that intends to spend more than Rs 5 crore is referred to the cabinet. That is to make sure that public money is well spent," he said.
OMBUDSMAN
Shettar plans to appoint ombudsmen at the districts to receive complaints against corruption in panchayat raj bodies. The ombudsmen will also investigate into such complaints and initiate action against the guilty. "Such a system will make it easier for us to monitor use of funds and proper implementation of programmes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP)," he said.
INCREASE NREGP WAGES
The government plans to hike minimum wages to Rs 110 from Rs 82 to make the programme more attractive. "We have already written to the central government on this," he said.
RDPR TO HAVE ITS OWN CADRE
According to him, RDPR's work has suffered as it does not have its own dedicated cadre of officials. "We also don't have our own cadre and recruitment rules. As soon as possible, we will frame our C and R rules and appoint our own officials," Shettar said.