Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday administered oath of allegiance of affirmation to the newly elected pradhans and up-pradhans of Shimla, Solan, Sirmour, Kinnaur and Kaza block of lahaul and Spiti in an oath taking ceremony organised at Peterhof, Shimla.
Addressing the assembly of newly elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) from five districts, the Chief Minister congratulated them for their successful election to the new office and urged them to work for the speedy development of their respective areas they represent. He asked them to provide transparent and good governance in their respective Panchayats and also ensure delivery of benefits under different programmes of the Government to the targeted groups.
Virbhadra Singh said that 114 Panchayats had been elected unanimously and were entitled to a special development grant of Rs 10 lakh each. He said that the State Government would spend Rs 11.40 crore for the purpose. He hoped that it would give some momentum to the pace of development in the State.
To ensure maximum participation of women at Gram Sabha level and involvement in issues regarding children, a provision had been made of organizing two ‘Mahila Gram Sabha’in a year and these Gram Sabha would be organized on 8th March, Mahila Diwas and first Sunday in the month of September,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that Rs 195.39 crore would be released to the Panchayats as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance commission during this financial year out of which Rs 97.70 crore had been released as first installment. He gave a call to the elected representatives to optimally utilize the funds being provided to them for various development programmes.
Virbhadra Singh said that Himachal government was committed to strengthen the PRIs and decentralization of powers to the strongest grass root level units of democracy.
He hoped that elected representatives should contribute in the development of the state with innovative zeal and energetic manner. He also stressed the need to work untiringly on the agenda of development for which everyone should work above all political consideration.
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma said that Panchayats in the state had been given administrative, executive and judicial powers and most of the important schemes were being implemented through PRIs. He said that during the year Rs 359.34 crore had been spent only under MNREGA, while Rs 2.7 crore under Aajivika Mission.
The State Government would impart foundation course to all 28,725 newly elected Panchayat representatives within six months,” he added.