New Panchayat Raj Act to change face of Telangana: Harish Rao

The State government is all set to focus on effective implementation of the new Panchayat Raj Act and the new Municipal Act for comprehensive development of rural and urban areas respectively. 

Accordingly, the Finance department allocated Rs 23,005 crore for the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department as well as another Rs 14,809 crore for Municipal Administration and Urban Development department for the ensuing financial year of 2020-21.

Presenting the State Budget in the Assembly here on Sunday, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said the State government was implementing a comprehensive rural policy to change the rural way of life in the State. He stated that the new Panchayat Raj was enacted in an attempt to transform the Gram Panchayats as dynamic agents in rural development. He pointed out that following implementation of ‘Palle Pragathi’ programme in two phases, people came to know about the strength of unity.

“As a part of Palle Pragathi, plans were prepared with public participation throughout the State. Necessary measures were taken to provide one tractor, one nursery, one crematorium and one dumping yard to every village. I am proud to announce that these facilities are not available in any other State in India except Telangana till now. As a part of Palle Pragathi, Haritha Plans were also prepared,” he stated. He said efforts were on to build model villages with the commitment and inspiration from Palle Pragathi.

To strengthen Gram Panchayats, the State government will directly release adequate funds. The State government is providing matching funds equivalent to the funds provided by the Union government as well as Finance Commission funds.



Besides allotting Rs 65 crore towards material component every month under MGNREGS, the State government also took up works for laying CC Roads in villages at an expenditure of Rs 600 crore.

With accelerated urbanisation is the State, the government is focusing on planned growth of urban centres. Through effective implementation of the new Municipal Act, the State government is keen to remove constraints and achieve transparency in functioning of municipalities. 

From this financial year, efforts are being made to implement self-declaration method to estimate the property values. The State government also will be implementing the TS-BPass system to give building construction permission in an easy way, on the lines of TS-iPASS system.

On implementation of ‘Pattana Pragathi’ programme, Harish Rao said the objective was to improve green cover, sanitation and promote development in a planned manner in the cities. He announced that the State government had decided to construct public toilets in government lands to overcome the problem of land availability and ensure construction of adequate public toilets in many urban areas, within next three months.

Besides taking up development of several public amenities, the State government has decided to establish separate zones for parking of autos, taxies and street vendors to conduct their business and avoid any inconvenience to the denizens. The State government will be releasing Rs 148 crore every month for development of urban areas. The Minister announced the allocation of Rs 800 crore for development under Urban Mission Bhagiratha scheme in the remaining 38 municipalities.