Assembly passes Telangana Panchayat Raj Bill, 2018

The Telangana Legislative Assembly today passed the Telangana Panchayat Raj Bill, 2018.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the bill was aimed at making the gram panchayatis achieve prosperity, clean and green.

"Devolution of funds to the Gram Panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations would start by this financial year. This is a new chapter," he said.

There would be 12,751 Gram Panchayatis after the passage of the bill, he said.

The government would conduct elections to Gram Panchayatis within the stipulated time, Rao said.

The Panchayat Raj movement was supposed to bring unity among villages but the villages have now become highly politicised and Panchayati elections were now witnessing violence, he said.

The bill is comprehensive and it envisages making villages self-reliant, clean and green, he said, adding that they should have facilities like garbage dump yards, crematorium and burial grounds.

Opposition BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy, TDP MLA R Krishnaiah and CPI(M) member S Rajaiah initially suggested that the bill be referred to a select committee for it to have more deliberations and inputs.