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Kerala has introduced five-year plans for the three-tier panchayats but abolished technical advisory groups involved in their approvals.
A routine meeting of the State Cabinet extended its formal approval to this proposal on Thursday.
The Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, said that the advisory groups were being abolished to simplify plan approval procedures and reduce delays.
OWN PLANS
From now on, village panchayats would draw up their own plan on the basis of proposals from the grama sabhas. The panchayats must obtain clearances for the plan from the higher authority.
Expert groups need be consulted only if technical hands are not available in the panchayats. Any complaints about the technical approval thus granted could be taken up with an appellate authority chaired by the District Collector.
The authority would have on it the District Planning Officer, a Deputy Director of the Local Self-government Department, and a Town Planning Officer as members. The State Planning Board had earlier recommended introduction of five-year plans on the lines of those being prepared at the national and State levels.
DETAILED PROJECTS
Annual plans of the panchayats would have to be approved by the District Planning Committees within 20 days of receipt of the plan. Once the approval is received, the panchayats could undertake preparation of detailed projects and implementation by themselves, the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also decided to abandon the sectoral plan allocations for local self-government institutions. But grama and block panchayats would be required to spend 45 per cent of their total allocation for infrastructure development.
In the case of municipal bodies, this would be 55 per cent. Three-tier panchayats must also set apart 10 per cent of allocations for fulfilling the needs of the weak, disabled and older persons.
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