Now, digitisation of gram panchayat records on cards

The government is moving towards digitising properties and records of all gram panchayats in the state in order to make rural administration transparent, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said here Wednesday.

He was speaking at the presentation of the Grama Puraskara awards on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Gandhiji at Vidhana Soudha, where 176 gram panchayats were feted for adopting good governance measures.

“The government is committed to fully roll out computer application systems to make Panchayat Raj administration more transparent. On this front, the government is taking steps to digitize assets and records of gram panchayats,” Yediyurappa said.

Yediyurappa gave out the Grama Puraskara awards to those gram panchayats that excelled in resource mobilisation, infrastructure development, e-governance, human resource development, and innovative practices.

Open gymnasiums

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister K S Eshwarappa announced that open gymnasiums will be started in every gram panchayat in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Fit India movement. “This will help rural women, farmers and youth,” he said.

The government will organise a special training session for gram panchayats in Bengaluru on November 2, Eshwarappa said.

“This will serve as a platform for the well-performing gram panchayats to share their best practices with those lagging behind,” he said.

Eshwarappa also hit out at the Opposition Congress for claiming that the ruling BJP had scuttled the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA).

“There is no question of the Yediyurappa government stopping funds or works under NREGA,” he said. “Wages worth Rs 511.55 crore were pending, of which Rs 345 crore has been released by the Centre. Totally, the Centre has given Karnataka Rs 950 crore so far towards wages and materials cost,” he said.