100 of 584 sarpanches in Khammam being trained in first phase

The Panchayat Raj Department has embarked on a comprehensive residential training programme for the newly-elected sarpanches in the district to acquaint them with the provisions of the Telangana Panchayat Raj (TPR) Act, 2018, and their designated roles and responsibilities.

The five-day residential training for the first batch comprising 100 sarpanches belonging to Kusumanchi, Nelakondapalli and Konijerla mandals has already started at Mahila Pranganam here on Monday.

Training in phases

The department has drawn up plans to impart training to the remaining 484 sarpanches in the district in different batches in a phased manner up to March 29. As many as 10 resource persons trained at the Telangana State Institute of Rural Development (TSIRD) have been roped in to conduct the training.

The programme has been designed to help the sarpanches get a grasp of the main provisions of the TPR Act to be able to discharge duties effectively, said Srinivas Reddy, District Panchayat Officer, Khammam.

Insight into GPs

The comprehensive training will allow participants to gain insights into the entire gamut of functioning of gram panchanyats (GPs), including financial management, resource mobilisation, sanitation, public health, execution of development works and economic development, he said.

Separate sessions will be held on Haritha Haram, poverty reduction strategies, agriculture and organic farming, social audit and other core subjects as part of training, he added.

Apart from catering to the training needs of the sarpanches, the government should ensure adequate funds to the GPs to help the sarpanches transform their GPs into model villages, said P. Krishna Rao, former secretary of the District Sarpanches Forum.

Newly-formed small GPs such as Kostala, Govindapuram and Stage Pinapaka in Wyra mandal have meagre revenue sources and the same is the case with most of the 167 new GPs that came into existence in the district last year, he pointed out.

In addition to the 14th Finance Commission and State Finance Commission funds, a separate allocation should be made in the State budget to cater to the needs of GPs considering their multifarious development and welfare-oriented tasks, he suggested.