Bhubaneswar: Suspecting a conspiracy behind the BJP-led Odisha government’s decision to restructure the panchayats across the State before 2027, the Opposition political parties alleged that the government is planning to postpone the Panchayat Elections which is due in February 2027.
While the restructuring of 6,798 panchayts can’t be possible in a year, the government meanwhile reduced the financial powers of block chairpersons. Now, the Block Development Officer (BDOs) will approve bills amounting up to Rs.20 lakh. Hence, no approval is required from block chairpersons for bills amounting up to Rs.20 lakh. A gazette notification in this regard was published on July 31. It is an attempt to ignore the elected PRI members and execute the works through bureaucracy, a BJD leader said.
Since BJP has poor presence at Panchayat level, the government is likely to postpone the rural polls citing Panchayat reorganization as a reason. They fear of losing the PRI elections in 2027. For which, tactically they want to stretch the poll till the 2029 general elections is over, alleged a leader from Odisha Congress.
On Wednesday, Panchayati Raj Minister Rabi Narayan Naik said the reorganisation of boundaries of blocks will be completed before 2029. “Both the exercises will be taken up to improve grassroots governance. The aim is to ensure that central and state government schemes effectively reach beneficiaries at the grassroots level,” he said.
After a meeting with department officials on the issue on Tuesday, the Minister said the panchayat reorganisation will be done taking into account local demands. Some panchayats are geographically big, while others are small. These aspects will be taken into account, he added.
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