Proposals for over 500 new panchayats received
The Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has received over 500 proposals for carving out new panchayats from the existing 3,615 panchayats in the state. The panchayat elections are due later this year, and the government will need to take a call on the matter sooner than later.
As per the norms, a minimum population of 1,000 is necessary for creating a separate panchayat. In some special cases, like in the tribal areas, the parameter could be relaxed. Given that the average population of the existing panchayats is just over 1,600 and the creation of so many panchayats will put a lot of financial burden on the state exchequer, not many requests are likely to be approved. “Our panchayats are already quite small and splitting these further would serve no purpose in most cases,” said an official.
The creation of a new panchayat entails a lot of expenditure, which includes the construction of a panchayat bhawan and the salaries of the staff and panchayat representatives. “The average cost of construction of a panchayat bhawan is estimated to be Rs 1.14 crore. And then, there’s recurring expenditure related to salaries,” the official said. Much of the construction expenditure is incurred on land development.
In 2020, the BJP government had carved out 412 new panchayats but most are without adequate infrastructure and staff like panchayat secretaries, technical assistant, etc. Given that most panchayats created over four years back are without the required staff and infrastructure, providing the required staff and infrastructure for new panchayats would be tough.
