Telangana: Gram panchayats to come under special officers next month

Hyderabad: The state government will appoint special officers for the 12,769 gram panchayats in February after their five-year tenure ends on January 31. The Congress government wants to conduct elections after the Lok Sabha polls.

This will be for the second time that gram panchayats will be under special officers. The previous BRS government had appointed special officers in August 2018 after the tenure of the incumbent body had ended on July 31, failing to conduct elections in time. The elections were eventually held in January 2019.Official sources said that on Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s return from Davos, orders will be issued to collectors to appoint a special officer for every gram panchayat after January 31.

Although the Telangana Sarpanchs Association had met the Chief Minister last month and sought a six-month extension of their tenure, official sources said that it would not be possible under the Panchayat Raj Act brought by the BRS government in 2018. It would take an amendment to to the law and securing the Governor’s approval, which would not be possible in the time available.

The Congress had promised in its manifesto that it would enhance reservations for the BC community from 23 per cent to 42 per cent. It also promised to provide sub-categorisation in BC community reservations. The process to amend Acts for local bodies would take a few months.