Administration goes haywire without sarpanches

ShadowCozy

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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VIJAYAWADA: Villages in the state have, for the first time, come under the rule of special officers with the sarpanches' fiveyear ..

VIJAYAWADA: Villages in the state have, for the first time, come under the rule of special officers with the sarpanches' fiveyear term coming to an end on August 22 this year.
Andhra Pradesh Sarpanches Association president and MLC YB Rajendraprasad says there are 21,936 grama panchayats in 1,096 mandals in the state and about 70 per cent of the state's population lives in rural areas.Despite their opposition, Rajendraprasad says, the state government appointed special officers like MROs, MEOs, MDOs and mandallevel agricultural officers and others to oversee five or six villages each. As these officers have no understanding of local issues, the villages have been deprived of better sanitation, drinking water and other basic amenities in these two and a half months. The growing number of malariaal and dengue cases in rural areas during the season is a pointer to lack of administration in grama panchayats.

Krishna District Sarpanches Association president Velidi Srinivas, a former sarpanch of Subbaigudem village in Penugranchiprolu mandal, says there are 972 grama panchayats in the district. Mandallevel agriculture official N Anjaneyulu, who has not much understanding of local problems, has been appointed as special officer of their panchayat. Moreover, as these officials are burdened with the additional charge of village administration, they are not able to discharge either of their duties properly.

They also urge chief minister N Kirankumar Reddy to immediately conduct elections to the local bodies.