Gram Sabhas to finalise NREGA works: Pawan

Vijayawada:Deputy Chief Minister (panchayat raj and rural development) K. Pawan Kalyan on Monday said grama sabha meetings will be held simultaneously in 13,326 panchayats on August 23 to pass resolutions on the works that need to be taken up under the NREGA scheme in the villages across the state.

The Deputy Chief Minister held a video conference with 26 districts ZP CEOs, DPOs, DWMA PDs, MPDOs, EO PRDs, panchayat secretaries and NREGA APOs on the guidelines to be followed during the gram sabhas to be held on August 23. He stated that the works that must be undertaken in the gram panchayats in the 2024-25 financial year should be discussed and approved during the grama sabhas.

Addressing the meeting, Pawan asked the officials to create awareness among people about the grama sabhas and inform them two days before the grama sabhas. He emphasised the need for meaningful grama sabhas involving people in village development.

Stating that thousands of crores of funds are being spent under the NREGA scheme, Pawan called for responsible spending of the funds and achieving the objective with which the works under the scheme were taken up. He called on the district, mandal and village level officials to take onus for the implementation of the scheme.

Blaming the previous YSRC government for completely destabilising the NREGA scheme, Pawan asked the officials at all levels to work in tandem for the effective implementation of the scheme at the ground level and achieve desired results and making AP stand first in the country in the implementation of the scheme.

In this regard, Pawan warned of disciplinary action against officials indulging in corruption irrespective of their rank. Principal secretary (PR and RD) Shashi Bhushan Kumar, commissioner Krishna Teja and other officials were present.