Panchayat Reforms In AP Reflecting Abdul Kalam’s Vision: DCM Pawan
Pawan explained that Panchayats have been reorganised into four grades based on population and administrative needs: Reports
VIJAYAWADA: Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan said on Friday that the state government has approved a sweeping overhaul of the panchayat administration system to strengthen rural governance and transparency.
This, he said, is in line with late president APJ Abdul Kalam’s vision for well-equipped and efficiently governed villages.
Earlier in the day, the state cabinet gave its nod to the reforms at its weekly cabinet meeting. Deputy chief minister and Panchayat Raj and rural development minister Pawan Kalyan spearheaded the new policy framework, which followed four months of consultations with experts and department officials.
A press release from the DCM office on Friday stated that the focus of the reforms is to make every gram panchayat a self-sustained administrative unit with better service delivery and urban-level infrastructure. Under the new structure, the existing cluster system has been scrapped, and all 13,351-gram panchayats would now function as independent administrative entities, replacing 7,244 clusters.
Pawan explained that Panchayats have been reorganised into four grades based on population and administrative needs. Those exceeding a population of 10,000 would be designated as Rurban Panchayats and these would receive urban-standard infrastructure facilities. About 359 such panchayats fall into this new category.
The designation of panchayat secretary has been changed to Panchayat Development Officer (PDO).
Officials in Grade-1 panchayats would be promoted to the cadre of deputy mandal parishad development officers and posted to Rurban units. The government also decided to restructure the roles of secretarial staff into three grades, with parallel promotions and revised pay scales for junior assistants and bill collectors, who would serve as senior assistants in Rurban Panchayats.
To ensure efficient administration, departments for planning, sanitation, water supply and office management would be created within each panchayat, funded through the general fund. The cabinet further cleared inter-cadre promotions with necessary training and approved a dedicated IT wing in the Panchayat Raj department to supervise digital governance and records management across village institutions.