Fatehgarh Sahib, July 25
Mr J.S. Kesar, Financial Commissioner, Development, and Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats, said the state government had chalked out a two-phased programme to impart training to sarpanches and panches of all the panchayats in the state. Workshops would be organised by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development to provide awareness and understanding on 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992. During the first phase, this training would be imparted to the sarpanches and panches belonging to all the five blocks in Fatehgarh Sahib district and Nurpur Bedi block of the Ropar district by organising 48 workshops.
While addressing the sarpanches and panches on the first day of the last workshop at Amloh, about 20 km from here, Mr Kesar said workshops have been apprised of panchayat’s role, responsibilities, powers and involvement in village-level development activities.
After completing the workshops of the first phase, three district-level and one state-level meeting of the trained members and other political representatives engaged in the rural development process would be organised to review the impact of the training and to assess the shortcomings in the process, he said. After bringing about proper improvement in the training system, the second phase would be launched to cover all the blocks of the state during a period of three years. He said that with the implementation of 73rd Amendment Act 1992, 29 items relating to the rural development have been transferred to the panchayats and now panchayats would function as the most powerful and responsible development agencies to carry out development projects in the villages and to implement the welfare schemes of the government. He said the main issues and problems discussed during the workshops included decentralisation of powers, agriculture and allied sectors, rural development and poverty alleviation programmes, rural education, women in panchayats, health and family welfare, promotion of child and human rights, environment improvement, sanitation and safe drinking water etc.
Mr Kesar expressed serious concern over the imbalance in the sex ratio in state and exhorted the members of the panchayats to play role of watchdogs of society to check this cruelty against the unborn girls and motivate the people not to go for sex determination tests. He appreciated the special campaign launched by the district administration to educate people against female foeticide.
Addressing the workshop, Mr K.K. Bhatnagar stressed upon the need to create awareness among the people about their rights with the involvement of panchayats. He also called upon the panchayats to accord priority to provide
better sanitation and safe drinking water facilities to the citizens and to ensure better environmental conditions in the villages.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vikas Partap, Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, claimed that his district had become the first district of the state to impart training to all the panchayat members under this programme by organising 40 workshops. He said that to tackle the menace of female foeticide which has created a serious imbalance in the sex ratio in the district, a special campaign to educate the masses had already been launched, under which one district-level and three block-level seminars involving the concerned departments and voluntary and social organisations have been organised and the remaining blocks were also covered shortly.
Dr S.K. Chaturvedi, state representative of UNICEF team and Mr Anu Dixit, officer in charge, also addressed the workshop and stressed upon the elected members to accord priority to the empowerment of women and proper development and education of the children.
