Greater autonomy for rural bodies sought
Greater autonomy for rural bodies sought
BHUBANESWAR: Seeking greater autonomy for the panchayat bodies, the OPCC has demanded quarterly meetings of gram sabha (village bo..

BHUBANESWAR: Seeking greater autonomy for the panchayat bodies, the OPCC has demanded quarterly meetings of gram sabha (village body meeting).   Approval of panchayats should be made mandatory for land acquisition for industrial projects and employment for local people in plants, factories and other business establishments ensured, it said.  The Congress manifesto said attendance of officials at the meetings related to all functions of the panchayats should be made mandatory. The BDOs and other block-level officials should hear the  grievances of the people in gram panchayat once a week and take steps for their redressal, it said. The party demanded construction of pucca roads, supply of piped water to villages, streetlights, opening of primary schools and health centres, and IT kiosks in villages. Besides, steps should also be taken for promotion of agriculture-based cottage industries, it added. Stating that the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) has sanctioned ` 400 crore for setting up 24,000 anganwadi centres in the State, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik demanded construction of buildings for these centres in every village. Office buildings for women SHGs should also be constructed in every village, he said and added  ‘mandis’ should be established in all the gram panchayats by utilising Rs 60 crore sanctioned by the TFC in this regard. Five-year and annual programmes should be prepared for every village and a technical agency appointed to survey the villages and assess the requirements of the villagers. The manifesto alleged that the State Government is yet to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme through which BPL families can get free medical assistance of  Rs 30,000 each. The district planning boards should also be made more active so that there can be participation from the grassroots level in the planning process. The manifesto countered the Central apathy slogan of the BJD and said the UPA Government has provided  Rs 90,000 crore to the State in six years compared to  Rs 33,844 crore by the NDA government, in which BJD was a coalition partner, from 1999 to 2004. The Congress demanded that finance and social audit of  Rs 2,774.8 crore provided by the Centre on the recommendations of the TFC should be made public. AICC secretary and in-charge, Odisha, Mirza Irshad Baig, former ministers Jagannath Patnaik and Prasad Harichandan, OPCC vice-president Sibanand Ray, general secretary Arjya Kumar Gyanendra and senior leader Gurupada Nanda were present.

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