Information about village meets to be conveyed through SMS

Mumbai, June 30: The Department of Rural Development of Maharashtra government has decided to do away with the system of making public announcements to inform villagers about the village meets and has decided to start sending text messages to them about the same.

"Gram sabhas are a necessary part of democracy and therefore it is essential to increase the participation of the people in the decision-making process," Minister of State for Rural Development Satej Patil said in a press release.

So far, information about the Gram Panchayat activities, like the upcoming village meets, used to be conveyed to the villagers through public announcements or by putting up notice on the boards in the village.

However, the department has decided to bring in suitable changes in the system. "The gram panchayats will send SMS to the villagers informing them about the gram sabhas or other developments," Patil added.

The gram sevaks (village assistants) will register the mobile numbers of the voters with the help of employees working in the gram panchayats and volunteers of the 'Bharat Nirman' scheme.

All the gram sevaks and data entry operators would be trained in this regard, Patil said.

PTI