Gram panchayats advised to fund village development from own tax sources
Officials and sarpanches were told at a two-day training in Sindewahi to raise local taxes rather than rely solely on government grants and schemes.
Gram panchayats should not always depend on government grants, campaigns, undertakings and schemes to run village affairs properly, but should also fund village development through their own revenue by suitably increasing the various taxes levied at the village level. This was stated by Mukteshwar Komalwar, Group Development Officer of Sawali Panchayat Samiti, addressing gram panchayat officers and sarpanches present at the event.
Komalwar was speaking at the closing programme of a two-day training session on "self-generated revenue growth" organised by the Gramsevak Training Centre, Sindewahi. The training was held over two days, on September 16 and 17, at the Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Sabhagriha of Sawali Panchayat Samiti.
The training session covered a range of topics in depth, including information on the gram panchayat's own sources of revenue, tax and non-tax sources, difficulties faced in tax collection, use of principles of behavioural science, funds for village development, new types of projects, different funding options, estimation and planning of taxes for sustainable resources, SWOT analysis, project management skills in the gram panchayat development plan, the Swamitva scheme, and the process for construction permissions.
Reference material, reading material, case studies, success stories, PPTs and study games were used to make the training easier to follow. The training was conducted under the guidance of Girish Dhaygude, Principal of the Gramsevak Training Centre, and lecturer Prof. Pandharbode. Guntiwar Sir of the Gramsevak Training Centre and Rajesh Dongre, a trainer trained by YASHADA, Pune, served as trainers.
Assistant Group Development Officer Ravindra Parihar, Extension Officers Raju Parsawar and Sanjeev Devtale were prominently present at the closing programme. Officers and sarpanches from 60 gram panchayats of Sawali and Mul panchayat samitis benefited from the training. The staff of the Gramsevak Training Centre worked hard to conduct the training in a cheerful atmosphere.
