Panchayat training institute in Gujarat's Gandhinagar to be named after PM Modi

A training institute under the Gujarat State Panchayat Parishad in Gandhinagar will be named for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said on Saturday.

Bharat Gajipara, secretary of Gujarat State Panchayat Parishad, said the Panchayat Talim Kendra (panchayat training centre) will be renamed as 'Narendra Modi Panchayati Raj Evam Gramin Vikas Sansthan'.

"The executive committee of the Parishad has accepted the new name associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Gajipara said.

The building, called Balwant Rai Mehta Panchayat Bhavan (after the second chief minister of Gujarat who is considered the architect of Panchayati Raj), was inaugurated by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, and the institute remained under the control of Congress until 1995, he said.

The Congress had informally rechristened the building as 'Indira Gandhi Talim Bhavan', Gajipara said.

"Now that PM Modi is giving so much funds for the development of panchayats and has taken many other decisions, we decided to name it after him. It is not a political proposal but a collective decision. Moreover, naming it after a towering personality will help remove administrative hurdles regarding getting funds from the government etc," he added.

Mona Kandhar, principal secretary of the state Panchayats, Rural Housing & Rural Development Department, said a budget of Rs 35 crore has been approved for renovation and extension of the building that will be used to train panchayat department employees along with elected representatives.

The Gujarat State Pradesh Panchayat Parishad was registered as a society under the Societies registration Act, in 1965 with the aim of protecting the interest of the panchayats in the state and enabling them to function as institutions of local self government. District, taluka and village panchayats are its members.