The State government would take necessary steps to strengthen panchayats financially. The panchayats would receive ₹1,320 crore through the 15th Finance Commission, according to Panchayat Raj Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy.
The Minister interacted with village sarpanches in a virtual conference on Monday as part of the Jagananna Swachh Sankalpam Sannahaka Sankharavam, a preparatory meeting.
The Minister said that the government with an objective of strengthening the Panchayat Raj system in the State had issued cheque drawing powers to 11,152 sarpanches. The remaining 1,943 sarpanches would also be given the cheque drawing powers in the next couple of days.
A 100-day schedule was chalked out for the Jagananna Swachh Sankalpam. The government strongly believed that living standards would increase only with better sanitation. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy opined that development was possible only with better health. Keeping it in mind, sarpanches were requested to work with vigour and achieve the set targets. The onus lay on sarpanches to make villages clean. People had reposed their faith on sarpanches, and it was their responsibility to meet the expectations. The government would felicitate the sarpanches and officials who achieved better results, he said.
The programme should bring about drastic changes in villages. Sarpanches would have to vie with cities in developing their villages, which need to be the care of address for clean and green environs, he said.
