Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Finance Commission Chandrasekhar Sahu on Saturday inaugurated the day-long workshop on 'Public Finance of local Bodies and GST in current scenario' here.
The workshop was attended by elected officials of local bodies, district and Janpad panchayats and gram panchayats of the state.
The workshop was jointly organized by State Finance Commission and Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, in three sessions.
Sahu in his address said that it is necessary to make local bodies and panchayats self-reliant and economically empowered.
He said that Goods and Service Tax Act (GST), based on the vision of one nation, one tax and one market, has come into effect in the country from July 2017.
In the same context, a workshop was organized for elected officials of Panchayats and urban bodies, Sahu said.
He further said that Panchayats and urban bodies should have significant participation in implementation of GST for achieving the target of prosperous country and prosperous Chhattisgarh.
The State Government is taking every possible initiative for strengthening and empowering these bodies financially. Every year sufficient funds are provisioned for these bodies in the State's budget, Sahu said.