He was speaking after receiving memorandums and appeals at the Jansamparka Sabha organised at Doddamarali, Kondenahalli and Agalagurki villages of Chikkaballapur taluk here on Saturday.

He said, several villages have been deprived of basic infrastructure and other facilities. It was the aim of the Jansamparka Sabhas to meet them.

The Gram Panchayats have been given total powers to run the day-to-day administration without any hindrances. Yet the powers were never been properly put into effecient use. The Gram Panchayat president and the members were unaware of the effecient utilisation of powers.

Most of them were not enlightened on this matter. It was because of these drawbacks that they were being deceived of facilities, the minister said.

Enjoyed all powers

The Gram Panchayat president and the members enjoyed all powers on par with other elected representatives. Various schemes and projects were being implemented for the development of villages. Eligible beneficiaries should get their share of Government facilities. The Gram Panchayat president and the members should strive in this direction, he added.

MLA K P Bachegowda said Veerappa Moily, who had been elected as the member of Parliament for the first time, was organising the Jansamparka Sabhas. So far, not a single MP or a union minister had organised such a meeting, because of his genuine concern for the rural residents, he said.

Bagepalli MLA N Sampangi, Devanahalli MLA Venkatswamy, Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat B S Shekharappa, member Manjula Venkatesh, Doddamarali Gram Panchayat President Kolavanahalli Muniraju, Congress leaders M Prakash, Yaluvahalli N Ramesh, Naveen Kiran and several others were present at the Jansamparka Sabha.

Playing the perfect host!

Doddamarali Gram Panchayat president Kolavanahalli Muniraju had to rise from his chair every now and then to welcome and accommodate guests who kept arriving onto the dais at the Jansamparka Sabha.

The beginning of the event was marked by an inaugural speech and the guests were invited on the dais. They were introduced and they occupied the chairs on dais which had a small dimension. But as soon as the programme began, other leaders arrived one by one, forcing Muniraju to get up everytime. Finally, when the meeting began, the GP president was forced to occupy a corner of the dais.