Planning should be made a continuous process

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Elected representatives of local bodies must make planning a continuous process, wherein they build the foundation and pave the way for their successors to build upon it, said Planning Board former member C P Narayanan.     He said that only when it becomes a continuous process, keeping in mind long-term goals and vision, it would really benefit the panchayat or the local body.   Narayanan was addressing the elected representatives at Panchayat Bhavan, Vellayambalam, at a seminar organised by the Kerala Grama Panchayat Association and Santigram to discuss ‘development with care’ planning methodology adopted by the state for the 12th Five Year Plan.   Speaking on the occasion, P T Mathew, Kerala Grama Panchayat Association president said that the local bodies must strive to come up with a database of their respective panchayats so that planning could be based on more precise and comprehensive data.   He said that during the 12th Five Year Plan period, local bodies must take a firm decision to implement their annual plan by the end of February instead of rushing with it in the last week of March.   He said that the suggestions of the Association had been well received by the government while drafting its approach paper for the 12th Five Year Plan.