Arunachal completes devolution of power to panchayats

Itanagar, Jul 2 (UNI) The Arunachal Pradesh government has completed devolution of power to Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and accordingly the 12th Finance Commission has allocated Rs 25 crore to them.

Panchayat Raj Minister Tako Dabi talking to reporters here yesterday said the government had earlier decided to hand over 29 departments as per activity mapping demarcating clearly the roles of the legislators and panchayat leaders. With this, the panchayat leaders have been empowered with all three F's-- function, functionaries and finance- for their effective functioning, Dabi, the state government spokesman, said, adding the block development officers and district planning officers and their ministerial staff would constitute the functionaries.

He said the newly elected panchayat leaders would henceforth be dealing with the funds as per laid down norms which include 20 per cent for zila parishad, 30 per cent for anchal samiti and 50 for gram panchayat respectively.

The three-tier panchayat election in the state under the 73rd Amendment Act was first held in 2003 but for non-devolution of power the elected leaders could not take up any activity in their first term.

The spokesman also informed that the state government had sanctioned an amount of Rs 14 lakh for demolition of around 300 unauthoriSed structures at Pasighat in East Siang district.

Similar amount would also be sanctioned for the state capital and other urban areas, he added.

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