Newly elected Panchayats to be trained: Jagadish Shettar

18.05.10 Mangalore : Jagadish Shettar, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, called upon the newly elected Gram Panchayat members to give utmost priority to the development of their villages keeping aside all biases.

The State Government has come out with a different plan to provide training for all the newly elected Gram Panchayat members, since majority of them are elected for the first time, said Jagadish Shettar, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, speaking at the press meet held at Circuit House on May 18, Tuesday.

He also said that, around 60 to 70 percent are entering into the Panchayat for the first time, out of the total 80,159 candidates who won in 5,474 Gram Panchayats throughout the state. Hence the training them under Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development Scheme is necessary.

The Gram Panchayat Presidents and Vice-Presidents will be separately trained to educate the matter regarding the administration and rules of Panchayat Raj Act in the month of July, while the members will be trained in next October through resource persons and satellite conferences Shettar said.

He also requested the elected Panchayats to organize Gram Sabhas on time so to move towards the effective implementation of new plans, schemes and projects towards the development of the villages.

Answering to the queries on lack of fund for Gram Panchayats , he said that the current problems can be solved by utilizing the released funds. Further Ombudsman will be posted in every district in the state to monitor the usage of released funds.

District In Charge Minister Krishna J Palemar, Coastal Development Authority chairman Nagaraj Shetty, Mayor Rajani Dugganna and BJP District President Padmanabha Kottari were present at the press meet.