Southern States
-
Andhra Pradesh
New system of village governance from Jan. 1
By Our Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD, DEC. 5. In a significant step toward the Gandhian ideal of ``Gram Swaraj,'' a new system of village administration accountable to the elected gram panchayat will be in place effective January 1, 2002.
The traditional system of village administrative officers (VAOs), handling land revenue and other matters, will be abolished and replaced by a village secretary acting as local administrator and performing revenue, developmental and a host of other functions. He or she will work under the sarpanch and be answerable to the gram panchayat.
The Cabinet sub-committee for reorganisation of the village administration and decentralisation of powers to the local bodies held a meeting with the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters, the Minister for Home, Mr. T. Devender Goud, and the Minister for Panchayati Raj, Mr. P. Srinivas Reddy, members of the sub-committee, said the idea was to reach all services to the villagers at their doorstep in a more efficient manner. ``This is a step toward fulfilling the dream of Mahatma Gandhi,'' explained Mr. Goud, who was the first chairman of the Ranga Reddy Zilla parishad. ``I have been fighting for this from my ZP days. What I could not achieve as Revenue Minister is now possible while I am Home Minister.''
A committee consisting of the Collector, CEO of the Zilla Parishad, District Revenue Officer and District Panchayat Officer will finalise selection of village secretaries and their training.
As of now, only 1,332 ``notified'' gram panchayats out of a total of 21,943 GPs have executive officers working under the sarpanch while the vast number of remaining 20,611 have no infrastructure and staff to administer the village. It was with the objective of filling this crucial gap that Government decided to appoint village secretaries to assist the sarpanch.
Every village regardless of size and population, it was explained, would have a secretary enjoying Government scale of pay. Mr. Srinivas Reddy and Mr. Devender Goud said the posts of secretaries would be filled from among grade 1, gr. 2 and gr. 3 village development officers (VDOs), junior assistants-cum-bill collectors and qualified VAOs. If there were still more vacancies, they would be filled by ``surplus manpower'' from other departments. As of now there were 3,768 gr. I and II VDOs, 2327 jr.asst-cum-bill collectors and 8,500 qualified VAOs out of a total of about 30,000.
The post of secretary was transferrable.
The unqualified VAOs would have to work in the same village under the Village Secretary.
Mr. Devender Goud said the village secretary would be an important functionary in the new set-up. He would have to obey and carry out every decision of the panchayat, be available to the panchayat at all times and ensure that villagers get good service. With better infrastructure, communications and power connection to most villages, gram panchayats would have computers in a phased manner. All certificates would be available locally.
Unlike in the past, a lot of funds would flow into the panchayats under the Constitution amendment.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Southern States
|
