BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the state’s NITI Aayog chairman, instructed vice-chairman BR Patil to tour the state extensively and verify whether the quota for women and backward classes was implemented properly in rural and urban local bodies.
At the state’s NITI Aayog meeting held at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday, it was decided that the vice-chairman should tour the state regularly and officers should ensure that the selection of policy and planning committees is done from time to time, and meetings are held regularly. The CM insisted that the meetings be held every three months.
“The recommendations of the taluk and district level committees should be brought to their attention and presented in pre-budget meetings,” Siddaramaiah said. “People’s involvement is important in decentralisation. Their opinions should be respected. Planning and development committees should convene meetings before the budget presentation and discuss their opinions.”
It was announced in Budget 2023-24 that responsibility mapping would be done for Panchayat Raj institutions as per the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. Accordingly, the Rural Development department has prepared a responsibility map for the functioning of 13 departments. Nine departments, including Health, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste Welfare, Backward Classes Welfare and Minority Welfare, Agriculture, Watershed Development, Horticulture and Sericulture, have been notified.
The consent of the Women and Child Welfare, Education, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries departments is pending. The CM instructed officials to complete a responsibility map of the remaining 16 departments in the second phase, by August 15, 2025. Siddaramaiah told officials to submit a proposal to the government to conduct a re-survey of the area where the ‘gram thana’ boundary was fixed long ago, and to fix the area that is currently being expanded.