Punjab constitutes distt planning committees

Chandigarh, Aug 7 (UNI) The Punjab Government has decided to constitute District Planning Committees in all the 20 districts.

These Committees have been constituted in pursuance of the 74th amendment of the Constitution.

Disclosing this here today a spokesman of Punjab Government said that the members of the District Planning Committees vary from 15 to 40 depending upon the population of the district.

Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Nawanshahar, Mansa, Kapurthala, Muktsar, Moga, Mohali, Ropar, Tarn Taran and Barnala will have 15 members each, while Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Patiala, Jalandhar and Sangrur will have 24 members each. The remaining 3 districts of Gurdaspur, Ludhiana and Amritsar will have 40 members each.

Eighty per cent of these members would be elected from amongst the members of Zila Parishads and members of Municipal Bodies. The remaining would be nominated by the State Government from amongst the MLAs and other persons.

The spokesman further said that the chairman of the District Planning Committee will also be nominated by the Government from amongst the elected or nominated members of the Committee. The Deputy Commissioner would be the ex-officio Member Secretary of the Committee.

The Committees would prepare draft district development plans and prioritise the schemes and programmes to be implemented. The Committees would also monitor and review the progress of projects.

The Deputy Commissioners have been asked to hold elections for the Committees by August 25. Once these Committees are constituted, the existing District Planning and Development Boards would cease to function, the spokesman added.

UNI HS MMS1642