Question : Facilities to Panchayats

(a) whether the Government has identified basic amenities and facilities given to Panchayats to improve quality of life in villages, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether a number of Panchayats have been provided with Satellite Communication (SATCOM) facilities and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise;
(c) whether the Union Government have allocated funds to various States for creating SATCOM facilities, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise during last two years and current year; and
(d) whether some States were unable to utilize the funds allocated to them for the purpose and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor and the steps being taken by the Union Government thereon?

MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ
(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the table of the House.



STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN PARTS (a) to (d) OF REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 222 FOR 01.12.2016, REGARDING FACILITIES TO PANCHAYATS

(a) Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), with its mandate to ensure inclusive development with social justice, and efficient delivery of services, is working in partnership with the States/UTs to institutionalize decentralised and participatory local self-governments. In this regard, under the ambit of Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award, funds are being provided to Gram Panchayats (GPs) for delivery of basic services for improving quality of life of rural people. An amount of Rs 2,00,292.20 crore has been awarded for the five year period 2015-20 exclusively for the GPs for delivering basic services such as water supply, sanitation including septage management, sewerage and solid management, storm water drainage, maintenance of community assets, maintenance of roads, footpaths and street-lighting, burial and cremation grounds, etc. The grants under FFC are to be utilized through preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) keeping in view the prioritized local felt needs.

(b) Satellite Communication (SATCOM) facilities for Panchayats have been operationalized in States through various sources for the purpose of training and information dissemination. The State-wise details of SATCOM facilities being used by Panchayats may be seen at Annexe.

(c) and (d) In the last two years, the States of Kerala and Assam that prepared detailed plans and estimates, were provided funds which were utilized by these States. In the current year, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and West Bengal have been allocated funds for development/maintenance of the existing infrastructure. In order to overcome the challenges faced by the States in establishing SATCOM facilities, MoPR has requested Indian Space Research Organization, National Informatics Center and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and held meetings with them to assist the States to design and implement cost effective and robust SATCOM networks for Panchayats.


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