From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jun 16: In yet another major initiative towards decentralisation of power, Karnataka will become perhaps the first state in the country to introduce grass- root level planning by implementing planning system from the gram panchayat level itself from Gandhi Jayanti Day on October 2.

The task force headed by Karnataka’s rural development and panchayat raj minister H K Patil, which had been constituted to implement the constitutional commitment of setting up gram panchayat level and district level planning committees, met in Bengaluru on Tuesday to consider the novel initiative.

The task force discussed at length about putting in place a system for gram panchayat level planning.

State’s panchayat raj secretary in union government, Vijay Anand, who has a rich experience in implementing planning system from gram panchayat to zilla panchayats in Kerala, made a detailed presentation and shared his experience at the meeting.

The recently concluded caste and education survey, human development index survey and other data bases would be used for preparing the baseline of data at the village level before the village level planning process is launched, Vijay Anand said.

The gram sabhas and ward sabhas of each gram panchayat would gain greater significance with the implementation of GP level planning system, HK Patil said told reporters after the meeting.

The minister expressed the confidence that entire process would be completed in the next 3 months and the GP level planning would be a reality by October 2.

The new system would enable better prioritisation of available funds according to the needs of each GP as the representatives at the village level will plan the works and allocate funds, H K Patil said.

A massive training programme for the newly elected gram panchayat members would be conducted soon and the entire process of training over 95,000 GP members would be completed within six months, the minister said.

The newly elected members would get an orientation about their objectives and responsibilities, various Acts and rules and basic knowledge about constitution.

Replying to questions on illegal parking of department funds in various banks by some of the officials, H K Patil said that the government had taken adequate measures to safeguard the money parked in these illegal accounts.

"We have not allowed the money to be diverted and any laxity in maintaining financial probity would be dealt with sternly," he said.

So far funds to the tune of Rs 525 crore are found to be diverted to illegal accounts in various banks.

However, the State Government is yet to know the exact dimension of the alleged scam as the probe is still on, he explained.

The committee headed by the executive director of the Mahatma Gandhi institute of rural energy and development Punati Sridhar, which is probing the alleged scam will submit its second interim report within a week.

"This report is expected to give a better picture on the magnitude of the alleged scam," H K Patil said.

He also assured that those who let down the government would not be spared.