1,606 panchayats in Raj are without their own office buildings: Data

Jaipur: In all, 1,606 gram panchayats in Rajasthan are without their own office buildings, a ministry of panchayati raj data stated. Minister of state for panchayati raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil said this while replying to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha on April 5.
“Panchayat being state subject, providing infrastructural facilities such as panchayat building, electricity, computers etc.are primarily the responsibility of the states. However, the ministry of panchayati raj (MoPR) supplements the efforts of the states, through its schemes and programmes,” the reply stated.
“Support for infrastructural facilities of computers and peripherals, electricity connections, water etc. in GPs is provided under various schemes/programmes of MoPR viz. Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), central finance commission grants etc. Financial support on a limited scale for construction of GP bhawans is provided to states under the RGSA scheme,” it added.
According to an official in the department, around 1,400 new gram panchayats were formed in the state and about 200 were without gram panchayat bhawans. At present there are 11,304 gram panchayats in the state.
“Over 1,000 gram panchayat buildings in the state are under construction. Even if the GP doesn’t have a building, it can begin work at the building of the parent panchayat,” the official said.
While the funds generated through Rashtriya Gram Swarajya Yojana (RGSA) are very limited, the state government depend on SFC (state finance commission), 15th finance commission (FFC), MGNREGA and MLA-LAD funds, for the construction of gram panchayat buildings.