Meeting with Political Parties held on 20nd December 2005 at Hyderabad

The Lok Satta supported Federation for Empowerment of Local Governments (FELG) convened an informal meeting of political parties to discuss the need for and the various options available for re-organization of panchayats. Senior functionaries of major political parties such as Congress, TDP, BJP and CPI (M) attended the meeting held on the 20th of December at the Lok Satta office, Hyderabad.

Andhra Pradesh has 21,910 village panchayats. About 2/3rds of these panchayats have population of less than 3000 and likewise the annual income of 2/3rds of panchayats is less than Rs. 50,000. Most aren’t even in a position to meet the salary of the village secretary.

In order to provide basic civic amenities and facilities like health sub-centre, it is imperative that the population and jurisdiction of the panchayats must be above a certain threshold. Reorganization of panchayats is a sensitive and a complex issue touching upon the sentiments of people. People living in small villages understandably have apprehensions that their interests would suffer if their village gets merged with the adjoining big village.

Lok Satta believes that a broad political consensus has to be arrived at on the issue of reorganization of panchayats, and this calls for a comprehensive understanding and consensus above partisan consideration. The meeting held in the above spirit witnessed a broad consensus on the need for re-organization. The representatives of the political parties however expressed a desire for time to hold broad based discussions within their parties. It was thus decided that the next meeting would be held on the 5th of January to further this process and take it to the next level.