PANJIM: The State government has decided to prepare development plans for all 190 village panchayats in Goa with greater people’s participation and more effective implementation of rural development programmes.
As required under the 14th Finance Commission, the government has directed the panchayats to prepare Panchayat Development Plans by participatory planning process.
Panchayats Director Gurudas Pilarnekar said the 14th finance commission has earmarked funds towards rural development to be spent from 2015-2020, wherein local bodies are required to spend the grants only for basic services within the functions assigned to them under relevant legislations.
“Hence, we have directed the panchayats to prepare their respective development plans for a period of five years,” he said.
“The gram panchayats shall utilize the funds available under the resource envelope for improving the quality of basic services such as health, drinking water, sanitation. The focus of gram panchayat will be on maintaining cleanliness and sanitation (liquid or solid waste management) and improving delivery of basic services,” the director said.
The earmarked basic grants by the finance commission for panchayats shall be distributed across the entities using 2011 census population with a weight of 90 percent and area with a weight of 10 percent.
“The performance grant will be provided based on receipts and expenditure received through audited accounts and improvement in own revenues,” Pilarnekar said, adding that release of grants for the new financial year would depend on utilization of 80 percent of the earlier grants. “Also the panchayats are bound to increase the annual revenue collection by five percent every year,” the Director said.
As such the panchayats will have to constitute standing committees as mandated under the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, activate the functional committees already constituted at the panchayat and constitute the village development committee to prepare gram panchayat development plan.
