A new policy to provide urban-style services to the people in the panchayats will soon be implemented. The AP cabinet has approved the new policies formulated at the initiative of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. It has taken a step towards abolishing the cluster system in the village panchayats and reorganizing them into independent administrative units and strengthening them.
The cabinet has approved reforms in the administrative system of the village panchayats. The cabinet has given the green signal to the proposals prepared by the Minister for Panchayat Raj Pawan Kalyan, the senior officials of the department and experts. According to the new policy, the panchayat system will be reorganized so that there is a sufficient number of staff available according to the village population and income.
The cluster policy, which was classified during the YSRCP government based on annual income, has been discontinued. In the new policy, all the Panchayats will be divided into three more grades, including special. Panchayat secretaries are being renamed as Panchayat Development Officers-PDOs. In the new policy, along with better services to the people, the staff will get promotions from time to time.
The Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department is gearing up for further steps after the cabinet approved the proposals to replace the 7,244 clusters introduced by the YSRCP government with 13,351 village panchayats to function independently. There will be a total of 13,351 secretaries in the new system.
There will be 359 staff in special grade panchayats, 3,82 in first grade panchayats, 3,163 in second grade panchayats, and 6,747 staff in third grade panchayats. In addition, 18 staff in special grade, 17 in first grade, 8 in second grade, and six in third grade will serve them.
Panchayats with a population of more than 10,000 and an annual income of more than one crore rupees will be included in the special grade category. Similarly, tribal areas with a population of more than 5,000 will also come under the special grade.
Panchayats at the mandal center with a population of 3,000 to 10,000 and an annual income of 30 lakhs to 1 crore will be considered as the first grade. Mandal center tribal panchayats with a population of 2,500 to 5,000 will be included in this category. Panchayats with a population of 2,000 to 3,000 and tribal panchayats with a population of 1,500 to 2,500 will be considered as the second grade.