Rohtak: Panchayat officers told to complete data verification at block level by April 25
Rohtak, April 23
Taking a serious note of the “sluggish” speed in verifying the data of the panchayat development index (PDI), the Development and Panchayats Department has directed all District Development and Panchayat Officers (DDPOs) and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of zila parishads (except Panipat district) to ensure completion of data verification work at the block level by April 25.
PDI assesses holistic development
The PDI is a multi-domain and multi-sectoral index that aims at assessing the overall holistic development, performance and progress of the panchayats. The PDI takes into account various socio-economic indicators and parameters to gauge the well-being and development status of the local communities within the jurisdiction of a panchayat. Rs — Official, Panchayat Department
The department has also made it clear that the Union Ministry of Panchayat Raj is monitoring the performance of the state on a weekly basis but no appreciable progress is being made by the state. It is evident that the BDPOs (except Panipat) are not taking interest in the creation of logins for the Block-Level Nodal Officers (BLNOs) for the verification of data, said a communique sent by the Director-General (Panchayat) to the DDPOs and the CEOs (except Panipat) recently.
Sources said the entry of 17 data entry formats (DCFs) was to be done at the gram panchayats’ level. Initially, the BLNOs would verify the DCFs before submitting these further. Thereafter, the DLNOs and the state-level officers would validate the data submitted through the gram panchayat, block and district-level offices as required for the PDI activity.
“The PDI is a multi-domain and multi-sectoral index that aims at assessing the overall holistic development, performance and progress of the panchayats. The PDI takes into account various socio-economic indicators and parameters to gauge the well-being and development status of the local communities within the jurisdiction of a panchayat,” said an official of the Panchayat Department.
He said for the PDI, various information pertaining to the gram panchayats in 17 government departments were required. The PDI would be prepared by the Centre which had sought information about basic amenities like roads, electricity, water supply, sanitation etc, literacy rates, enrollments in schools, income levels, employment opportunities, agriculture productivity, economic activity, delivery of public services and citizen participation etc.
“Similarly, information pertaining to social indicators like poverty rates, gender equality, overall quality of life and the registration of police cases in the villages are also needed for the PDI. Since several departments are involved in the process of collecting information hence the process of collecting data and their verification is getting delayed but now, it will be completed before the deadline,” the official added.
He said a block-level data validation team under the chairmanship of the DDPO had been formed for the verification of data and its further submission. The officials of 12 other departments, including school education, planning, home, health, forest, revenue, agriculture, animal husbandry, panchayat raj etc were also the members of this team.
Sources said there were a total of 6,223 gram panchayats and 6,055 among them, had so far submitted their data but the block-level user credentials of many departments were yet to be created and without it, the data could not be verified for the PDI.
Ramphal Chahal, DDPO, Rohtak, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
