Arunachal working on modalities to conduct rural polls by Dec

The Arunachal Pradesh government is working on the modalities to conduct panchayat elections in the state by December as directed by the Gauhati High Court, Panchayati Raj Minister Alo Libang said today.

The minister was responding to a question raised by BJP member Pani Taram in the Assembly.

The state government had amended the Arunachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act 1997 in the last Assembly session to have a two-tier panchayati raj system instead of the existing three-tier structure for effective administration, Taram said.

The term of the erstwhile three-tier panchayati raj institutions ended in May this year and the government is in the process of preparing amendments of the relevant rules for having two-tier panchayati raj institutions in the state.

"To look after the works of the panchayats, the state government has constituted interim gram panchayat level committees in all the gram panchayats and district level interim committees to discharge the functions of panchayati raj institutions till panchayats are re-constituted in the state," he said.

Responding to a supplementary from Taram on the steps taken by the government to regularise the service of contractual employees in panchayats, the minister said though panchayat employees were appointed on a contractual basis for particular schemes, a committee has been constituted by the state government to examine it.