Ahead of the next general elections, the Odisha government today raised the sitting fees and honorarium of three-tier panchayt functionaries marking celebration of state-level Panchayati Raj Day here.
The state has been observing Panchayati Raj Day every year on March 5, the birth anniversary of legendary Biju Patnaik. The day also marked his son Naveen Patnaik completing 13 years in the office of the Chief Minister.
"I want to announce that the state government has decided to increase sitting fees and monthly honorarium of all the panchayat functionaries in the state," the chief minister said addressing the gathering of panchayat representatives.
Observing that Odisha had already earmarked Rs 50 crore for the purpose, Patnaik said the panchayat functionaries were the real persons who engineer transformation in villages. The panchayat representatives would get the enhanced fees and honorarium from April 1.
The sitting fees of all the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti members will be increased from Rs 100 to Rs 130 while the same for the zilla parishad is hiked from Rs 120 to Rs 150 per sitting.
Patnaik also announced that all the 854 zilla parishad zones in the state would be provided with Rs 5 lakh each as development funds during the 2013-14 fiscal. "We have made provision of Rs 46 crore for the purpose," he said.
Biju Patnaik's 97th birth anniversary was also marked with the inauguration of the new terminal at Biju Patnaik Airport here, besides meetings, rallies and 'bhajan samarohs'.
At a meeting held at the party head quarters, Patnaik said a prosperous and developed Odisha was the dream of Biju Patnaik.
