Jammu, Apr 17: Facing strong criticism over its ‘failure’ to make the Panchayati Raj system fully functional in the state, Jammu and Kashmir government now mulls payment of honorarium to the elected representatives of the rural local bodies.
Official sources told Greater Kashmir that the Rural Development Department (RDD) has submitted a proposal to the Finance Department in this regard and the formal approval was awaited.
“RDD has proposed to pay honorarium to Sarpanchs, Panchs and Block Chairmen. A proposal in this regard has already been sent to the Finance Department by RDD,” sources said.
“As per the proposal, a Block Chairman will be paid honorarium of Rs 6000 per month, a Sarpanch will get Rs 5000 per month and a Panch Rs 3000,” sources said, adding that besides honorarium, the elected representatives would also be entitled to Rs 500 for every meeting of the Panchayat. “A member of Panchayat will be paid Rs 500 allowance per meeting but the maximum number of meetings to be permitted will be twice a month”, sources said.
They further added that the proposal has already been cleared by the Planning Department, which has forwarded it to Finance Department for consideration. “After getting clearance from the Planning Department the file is now with the Finance Department. If the proposal goes through,Jammu and Kashmir will achieve the distinction of paying highest remuneration to the elected representatives of the rural local bodies”, sources claimed.
RDD, they said, after studying the system of several other states where the remuneration was being paid to the elected representatives, finalized the proposal and sent it to the Finance Department.
They further said that the state government has already made it mandatory for the 14 departments to spend funds at Panchayat level only through Panchayats, besides keeping Rs one lakh at the disposal of each Panchayat. They further said that the proposal was likely to be approved by the Finance Department very soon.
Despite repeated attempts the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister Ali Muhammad Sagar can not be contacted for his comment.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST