By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun/New Delhi, 11 Apr: On the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, on Monday, held a ‘National Conference of Stakeholders on Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals’ at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
On the occasion, Uttarakhand Minister Satpal Maharaj said, “We will strengthen the Panchayati Raj system under the leadership of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. To meet the goals of sustainable development, we have tried to connect many gram panchayats with the internet network.”
The State Panchayati Raj Minister, Satpal Maharaj, in his address, thanked the country’s Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh and Minister of State Kapil Moteshwar Patil for organising the event. He said that Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was right in saying “when there is a village state, then there will be Ramrajya”.
“It is a fact that we cannot strengthen India without strengthening the village,” Satpal asserted. “We are working hard to strengthen the panchayats in Uttarakhand. Panchayat buildings are functioning in 5861 gram panchayats out of the total 7791 gram panchayats of the state. We need Rs 16,920 lakh for construction of buildings in 846 gram panchayats.”
He added that poverty could be fought through promotion of livelihoods and developing healthy, child friendly, water sufficient, clean and green villages. Villages needed to self-sufficient in infrastructure, socially safe, have good governance and access to modern technology. All the topics discussed at the conference would definitely prove to be a milestone in rural development.
Maharaj recalled that it was the vision of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, to make every village in the country fully self-sufficient, self-reliant and democratically empowered. He reminded that for candidature in the Panchayat elections in Uttarakhand, the government has fixed minimum educational qualifications, as well as banned those having more than two living children and without a toilet at home from contesting.
He said there is need for computerisation of 5486 gram panchayats of the state. In the first phase of the Bharat Net programme, 1516 gram panchayats had been connected to the Internet through Optical Fiber. For 5486 computers, an amount of Rs 2194.40 lakhs is needed. Similarly, allocation of Rs 1608 lakh has also been proposed for the deployment of one data entry operator in 670 Nyaya Panchayats.
Maharaj pointed out that he had also handed over a letter in this regard to the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh.
He also informed the gathering that a Common Waste Plastic Recycling Plants has been constructed by the Panchayat Raj Department at Mujahidpur, Satiwala, Khalsa villages of Bhagwanpur block in district Haridwar. With the operation of this plant, 3 tonnes of garbage is being disposed of every day. Not only this, 80 cubic feet of plastic (door frames, furniture bench) will be prepared from this.
On this occasion, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, MoS Kapil Moreshwar Patil, Bhupendra Singh Choudhary, Minister of Panchayati Raj, Uttar Pradesh, Devendra Singh, Minister of Panchayati Raj, Haryana, KS Eshawayappa, Minister Panchapati Raj, Karnataka, KS Peniyaka Rupan, Panchayati Raj Minister, were also present, along with Ministers from Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, etc.
