Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Doubles MNREGA Approval Limit to Rs 10 Lakh, Hikes Panchayat Allowances 1.5 Times

Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar today held a meeting with the delegation of representatives of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad under the Panchayati Raj system in 'Samvad' located in the Chief Minister's Secretariat.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said that it is a matter of great happiness that a meeting has been organized with the delegation of representatives of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad under the Panchayati Raj system. We have been informed about your demands by the Chief Secretary and departmental officials. The Panchayati Raj Department is taking action as per rules regarding most of your demands, among them, I make the following announcement regarding your important demands.

The Chief Minister announced-

1. The head of the Gram Panchayats has the power to give administrative approval to schemes up to Rs 5 lakh under the MNREGA scheme till now. An order is being given to increase this limit to Rs 10 lakh.

2. An order is being given to increase the monthly allowance of representatives of all levels of Panchayati Raj institutions by one and a half times.

3. We have set the target that Panchayat Government Buildings should be completed in all the Gram Panchayats of the state before the elections to be held this year. For this, the state government has also approved the remaining 1069 new Panchayat Government Buildings. The Gram Panchayat is being ordered to be given the responsibility of construction of these approved Panchayat Government Buildings. For this, if the land is not available in the village of the headquarters, then land can also be taken in the nearby village. I hope that you will soon select the land and start the work and the work of construction of Panchayat Government Building will be completed before time.

4. The District Officer will take action to execute the application for arms license of Panchayat representatives as per rules within the prescribed time limit.

5. 5. Earlier, Panchayat representatives were given an ex-gratia grant of Rs 5 lakh only in case of accidental death, now an order is being given to give an ex-gratia grant of Rs 5 lakh even in case of normal death of Panchayat representatives during their tenure. Also, if Panchayat representatives are suffering from illness, then orders are being given to provide them health facilities from the Chief Minister's Medical Assistance Fund.

6. To speed up the use of the funds received by the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions from the 15th Finance Commission and State Finance Commission, schemes up to Rs 15 lakh can be implemented departmentally.

The Chief Minister said that in the year 2006, women were given 50 percent reservation in the Panchayati Raj institutions and in the year 2007 in the Municipal Corporation elections. We have done a lot of work for the upliftment of women. A large number of women are leading the society by becoming representatives. We have worked for the development of all sections. We always keep meeting the representatives. The remaining Panchayat Government Building will be completed as soon as possible, in which all the arrangements have been made. The people of the Panchayat will get the benefit of this and the public representatives will also get convenience in solving the problems. I congratulate the representatives who have come here from the Panchayat bodies and welcome all of you.

In the meeting, representative of Zila Parishad Sangh Smt. Krishna Yadav, head of Panchayat Samiti Smt. Rashmi Kumari, President of Mukhiya Sangh Mr. Mithilesh Kumar Rai and President of Panch-Sarpanch Sangh Mr. Amod Kumar Nirala presented their views before the Chief Minister. All the representatives praised Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar for the work done for the upliftment of Panchayati Raj system and said that Bihar is progressing under your leadership and people are getting the benefits of the work done by you in Panchayati Raj system.

On this occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Samrat Chaudhary, Water Resources cum Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Panchayati Raj Minister Mr. Kedar Prasad Gupta, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Deepak Kumar, Chief Secretary Mr. Amritlal Meena, Development Commissioner Mr. Pratyaya Amrit, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. S. Siddharth, Secretary of Rural Development Department Mr. Lokesh Kumar Singh, Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Kumar Ravi, Secretary of Panchayati Raj Department Mr. Manoj Kumar, Secretary of Finance Department Mr. Jai Singh, Director of Panchayati Raj Department Mr. Prashant CH and other senior officers were present.