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Sarpanches get more power in Haryana
Saini also announced that the sarpanches will now be able to claim travel expenses at a rate of ₹16 per kilometre while using their car or other means for official work. The bill for claiming TA/DA will be approved at the level of the BDPO
Addressing the bone of contention between state and sarpanches ahead of upcoming assembly polls, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday declared that they will now be able to undertake development works upto ₹21 lakhs in their gram panchayats without e-tendering, a hike from the existing limit of ₹5 lakh.
Saini also announced that the sarpanches will now be able to claim travel expenses at a rate of ₹16 per kilometre while using their car or other means for official work. The bill for claiming TA/DA will be approved at the level of the BDPO.
The slew of announcements was made by the chief minister during a state-level Panchayati Raj and Sarpanch Sammelan organised at Kurukshetra University and attended by sapanches from across the state.
Deputy speaker Ranbir Gangwa, ministers Seema Trikha, Banwari Lal, Subhash Sudha, Mahipal Dhanda, MLAs Laxman Yadav, Sitaram Yadav, Rajesh Nagar, Nirmal Chaudhary, Dura Ram, Krishan Middha, Jogiram Sihag and other dignitaries were present.
The announcement comes weeks after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost five of 10 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The upper limit criteria of ₹5 lakh regulated by former CM Manohar Lal Khattar was the bone of contention between the state government and sarpanches for months that led to protests.
The issue also gained prominence during the parliamentary elections and BJP leaders including Khattar had to face protests in villages. At the event, Saini also announced to increase in the legal fees for handling court cases. At the district or sub-division level it will be raised from ₹1,100 to ₹5,500 and the fee for cases in the High Court and Supreme Court from ₹5,500 to ₹33,000.
Additionally, he also announced an increase in the expenditure limit from the panchayat fund for events organised by the gram panchayat. The limit for Independence Day and Republic Day events, as well as programs organized for the visit of any special officer or minister, will be increased from ₹3,000 to ₹30,000.
Similarly, the limit for expenses related to purchasing the national flag, distributing sweets on national festivals, and publicizing Panchayat activities will be increased from ₹500 to ₹5,000.
The chief minister also announced that the post of Sarpanch will now be included in the protocol list of the government programmes being held in the villages. The Sarpanch will sit with the DC and SP during such events.
To address the issue of junior engineers (JEs) not preparing estimates for several months, Saini announced that once a sarpanch uploads a resolution passed by the panchayat for any development work on the HEW portal, the JE will be bound to prepare and upload the estimate within 10 days.
He further said that to expedite development works, the state government has decided that unregistered contractors will now be able to undertake work up to ₹50 lakhs in a year and if these works are completed on time, these contractors will be eligible to take on projects worth ₹1 crore the following year.
Referring to the “discrimination” by previous governments in village development, he said that they often avoided allocating funds for this purpose.
“Before 2014, the state finance commission grant for Panchayats was ₹600 crore. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, this grant for Haryana has increased to ₹2,968 crore. Further, ₹7,276.77 crore has been allocated for rural development in the budget for the financial year 2024-25, compared to ₹1,898.48 crore during the year 2013-14 under the previous government,” he added.
