Bureaucrats not 'rath prabharis' but nodal officers to oversee Yatra: Govt

Central government officials will work as nodal officers at district and state levels to oversee the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Secretary Apurva Chandra said on Thursday.

The government is carrying out a nationwide outreach to highlight its schemes at gram panchayat level. The campaign will be launched on November 15, the birth anniversary of tribal leader Birsa Munda, in Jharkhand’s Khunti.

The I&B secretary’s clarification during a press conference comes after sections of the civil society raised objections to a Central Board of Direct Taxes’ circular on October 18 asking bureaucrats of the ranks of joint secretary, director, and deputy director to work as district rath prabharis.

These WiFi-enabled Information, Education and Communication vans, which were earlier dubbed as raths, will visit tribal-dominated districts before making its journey to remaining districts from November 22.

Speaking on the charge of violating model code of conduct (MCC) in five election-bound states, the I&B secretary said the vans would enter these states only after the MCC ceases to exist.

The campaign will cover 260,000 gram panchayats and over 3,700 urban local bodies (ULBs) in around 14,000 locations across India. Around 2,500 vans will travel at a planned rate of two panchayats per day.

The I&B secretary said the yatra would go ahead with support from all the state governments. “The yatra was first discussed in the national conference of chief secretaries in Dharamshala last year,” he said.