Parliament panel reviews rural development schemes

Amritsar, May 15

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj headed by Lok Sabha Member Shyam Singh Yadav on Saturday held a meeting with senior officials of the Panchayat Department to review various schemes of the Central Government.

These include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee National Rurban Mission, 15th Finance Commission, Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme and others.

The committee members also asked for suggestions from local officials to improve results and run schemes smoothly. K Shiva Prashad, Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, shared details of the development works going on in the state with panel members. He also brought to attention of parliamentarians difficulties faced in implementing various schemes in the state.

Lok Sabha member Gurjeet Singh Aujla while advocating necessary changes in the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana said Punjab should get some concession under these schemes so that these could be implemented properly. He made a special reference to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana under which houses were to be constructed for the poor people.