HYDERABAD: In a bid to involve people in the development of villages, panchayat raj minister KT Rama Rao wants to spread the concept of community participation and has decided to take the initiative from his constituency Sircilla in Karimnagar district.
Every rupee paid by the people as taxes in village panchayats will be used for development of the village as part of this concept. For this, Rama Rao wants 100 per cent tax payment, be it property tax or others, from the people.
To bring confidence among the people that every rupee paid as tax will be used for their welfare only, Rama Rao is personally interacting with sarpanches, village secretaries and even villagers. ‘’We are allocating huge amounts for developing villages. But, for proper maintaining of sanitation, providing drinking water and street lights, the taxes paid by the people will be utilised,’’ he said.
To maintain transparency, the details of the taxes paid by the people and the amount spent would be available to the people at panchayat secretary offices. ‘’Like in developed countries where ‘Your Tax Dollars At Work’ boards are displayed to show that development is being done with their money, we will also try to do a similar exercise,’’ he said.
Rama Rao said they are ready to give powers to panchayats but want the latter to be ready to perform their duties and responsibilities. ‘’For real Grama Swaraj, strenghtening them financially is the only way,’’ he said.