TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa government on Wednesday approved a scheme for village panchayats under which Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned to each local body for infrastructure development and upgradation of assets.
Announcing the scheme titled as Din Dayal Panchayati Raj Infrastructure Scheme at a post cabinet briefing, Panchayati Raj Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that the scheme was announced in the last session of the Goa assembly by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in his budget speech and has been cleared by the cabinet on Wednesday.
The scheme entails creation of durable assets in the form of infrastructure such as a market complex, parks, panchayat Ghar or crematoria or whatever is required by the village panchayat.
Parsekar said, “We will first give preference to deserving panchayats,” adding that those panchayats which are financially well off will also get the grants, but at a later stage.
He added that the panchayats will have to submit their proposals and the government will scrutinize and accordingly sanction funds.
A total of 190 panchayats will be covered under the scheme over a period of four years.
An allocation of Rs 35 crore has been made for the present financial year and Rs 20 crore will be allocated during the next three years to cover all the village panchayats.
Parsekar said that the Rs 1 crore is a grant and not a loan and there is no need top repay the amount.
