Pawan’s Call to Ensure Quality and Transparency in Development Works

Vijayawada: Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has directed the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development officials to ensure quality of the development works executed in gram panchayats with NREGS funds.

Officials must utilize the NREGS and 15th Finance Commission funds that the state got from the Centre, in a transparent manner, he said.

On Sunday, the Deputy CM chaired a meeting with Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Commissioner Krishna Teja, along with NREGS and Engineering wing officials. The meeting discussed inspections conducted by officials across 13,326 gram panchayats to ascertain the quality of development works.

Officials said development works, including the laying of 3,000km of CC Roads, 500km of BT Roads, 22,525 Gokulams, 25,000 farm ponds, and water harvesting pits for 30,000 acres have been launched as part of the Palle Panduga for the present fiscal.

Pawan Kalyan wanted officials to ensure that development works executed using NREGS and 15th Finance Commission funds met the prescribed standards. Construction quality should be checked at all stages.

"By setting up citizen information boards detailing the progress of development works, villagers will gain insight into the status of the projects and the funds allocated to their panchayats. These information boards will help people see that the panchayats are receiving all funds. During the YSRC terms, funds meant for panchayats had been diverted," he said.

He noted that the state government has held gram sabhas across 13,326 gram panchayats simultaneously.