Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Thursday that his government had asked the secretaries of gram panchayats and the executive officers (BDOs) of panchayat samitis to carry out day-to-day work at rural bodies if the elected members remained absent from their offices.
The chief minister’s comments came after it was found that many gram panchayats and panchayat samitis remained non-functional as the elected members of the Trinamool Congress had not been attending their offices since May 4, when the results of the Assembly polls were declared.
“Our government will implement all central government schemes in the state. I would like to announce that our government is keen to make the schemes available for people from July. For implementing the schemes, the rural and urban bodies need to function properly,” Suvendu said in Durgapur after an administrative review meeting.
An official said: “More than 95 per cent of the rural bodies across the state are with Trinamool. After the BJP came to power, the Trinamool members are scared of going to offices in the rural and urban bodies, leaving them non-functional. The problem is acute in the rural areas. This is why the chief minister said that secretaries of the panchayats and the BDOs, who are the executive officers of the panchayat samitis, would carry forward the day-to-day work.”
The government wants to make the local bodies functional, as common people largely depend on them to get several facilities. The local bodies issue several documents, like death and birth certificates, character certificates, income certificates, and trade
licences.
The officers can issue some of these certificates in the absence of the elected members, but it would be difficult for them to prepare a list of beneficiaries’ names for various schemes without the participation of the elected members.
“The government is keen on introducing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state immediately. Moreover, Awas Yojana and schemes on rural roads and rural
jobs could not be implemented easily without the involvement of elected members. So it would be a challenge for the BJP to make the local bodies functional without the elected members’ participation,” said an official.
After Suvendu had assumed charge, he said all central schemes would be implemented in Bengal.