Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said that the Telangana government would expedite the process of upgrading lambadi thandas (hamlets) to village panchayats.
Rao today held a high-level review meeting with Special Chief Secretary S P Singh and Commissioner Nitu Kumari Prasad at the Secretariat to restart the the upgradation of hamlets to gram panchayats, which was put in the backburner for long.
He directed the officials to urge the Centre to release Rs. 900 crores through the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission to develop Village Panchayats, and also asked them to prepare proposals to convert tribal thandas into panchayats. With the help of these funds, the State government would provide employment opportunities to rural people, he said; and instructed the officials to ask the Centre to sanction six crore working days under the scheme.
He asked for a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the action plan needed for the implementation of the first Phase of the Rural Urban Mission (Rurban) at Tandur, Jukkal, Narayanakhed and Asifabad, and also discussed the second Phase of works.
Directing the officials to release honorarium to people's representatives, the minister asked the latter to prepare new software to make the details of Employment Guarantee Scheme and works in the village panchayats online for transparency.