Excelsior Correspondent
Kathua, Aug 22: For capacity building of Sarpanchs and to make Panchayats vibrant, a special workshop cum public outreach camp was today organized for Sarpanchs of seven blocks of Marheen, Hiranagar, Dinga Amb, Barnoti, Kathua, Nagri and Keerian-Gandial participated, here at Hiranagar.
Hosted by Rural Development Department, District Development Commissioner, Dr. Raghav Langer was the chief guest at the camp.
Addressing the PRs, the DDC said that the objective of the outreach camp was to review the functioning of Panchayats and to make them effective as well as efficient institution for local self governance.
He said the public outreach camps will help in increasing targeted coverage of various welfare schemes and programmes besides devolution of functions to PRIs pertaining to various departments.
He said the workshop’s focus is on bringing together insights from various Sarpanchs to understand how local Governments can reinforce the development agenda and how structured Gram Sabha meetings are important for developing Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).
He further said that Gram Panchayats should priorities water conservation works and understand their role and governance issues. Besides, Back to Village demands also needs to be accommodated in village development plans, the DDC exhorted.
The Sarpanchs also raised area specific demands and projected demand of fresh BPL survey, streamlining of PDS, expansion of road connectivity, augmentation of drinking water and benefits under Ayushman Bharat and KCC schemes to eligible persons, old age/ widow pension and financial assistance under SMAS.
Several stalls were also put up by different departments depicting their schemes and benefits which were inspected by the DDC. District Officers also sensitized the Sarpanchs regarding their schemes and implementation.
Earlier, the DDC also visited village Khrote and Dhanni-Bakhta to listen to people’s grievances pertaining to essential services. The locals informed about unavailability of tap water at village Khrote due to utility shifting for road construction. He assured the villagers at Dhanni-Bakhta that their road issue will be addressed at the earliest.
ACD, Sukhpal Singh, SDM Hiranagar, Suresh Kumar, Engineers, District Sectoral officers were present at the program.
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