Basic infra in villages to be in place in next 5 yrs: Minister

Village panchayats across the country will have basic infrastructure in place in the next five years as each will get about Rs 1.60 crore in form of grants from the Centre, Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said today.
Addressing a press conference here after inaugurating a day-long national meeting of tribal women gram panchayat presidents, the Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation and Drinking Water said over Rs 2 lakh crore would flow to the village panchayats as 14th Finance Commission grants in the next five years.
An equal amount would be available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, he said.

"So each panchayat, even a minor one, will get Rs 1.60 crore in total and in the next five years the gram panchayats will be in a position wherein at least 80 per cent, if not 100 per cent, of basic infrastructure will be in place," Singh said.
The panchayats would be at liberty to decide on the projects to be taken up. Funds from the Centre would henceforth be released directly into the gram panchayat's account and not through the state government, he added.
Under the Rurban Mission, launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February, 300 clusters would be developed in the country in the next three years.

"We have already chosen 100 clusters. Each cluster can have three to 30 villages depending on their size and a population between 25,000 and 50,000. Funds for development of these clusters can come from Centre, the state government or under the Public-Private Partnership mode. In needy cases, there is scope for critical gap funding up to 30 per cent," the Union Minister said.

Under the Rurban Mission, the basic aim was to create
critical infrastructure in rural areas like 24x7 power supply, drainage, quality education, including higher education, and good referral system of health, Singh said.
"As value addition, we want to create economic activity in rural areas with focus on job creation," he added.

Referring to the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, the minister wanted the state governments to implement it "in letter and in spirit".
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram, Union Ministers of State Nihal Chand and Ramkripal Yadav were also present.