Suvendu govt to bring bill stripping panchayat pradhans of financial power

The Suvendu Adhikari government is likely to table a Bill in the upcoming Assembly session starting from July 17 to strip elected gram panchayat pradhans of their financial powers.

The legislation would transfer the responsibilities to government officials through an amendment to the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973.

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The proposed amendment is aimed at strengthening financial oversight, enhancing transparency and improving accountability in the implementation of rural development programmes across the state.

Under the present system, gram panchayat pradhans exercise financial authority over several major rural development programmes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and projects funded through the Fifteenth Finance Commission grants.

They are empowered to approve tenders, authorise expenditure and clear payments for development works.

With the proposed amendment, these financial powers will be transferred to executive assistants posted in gram panchayats.

While elected representatives will continue to head the local bodies, financial approvals and bill clearances will be handled by government functionaries.

According to a senior official of the Panchayat and Rural Development Department the decision has been taken after repeated allegations of financial irregularities in the functioning of gram panchayats under the previous administration.

“Vesting financial authority in government officials instead of elected pradhans would reduce the scope for corruption, improve monitoring of public funds and ensure smoother implementation of development projects,” the official said, adding that the transition would be completed within a week after the legislation is passed.

The move comes at a time when the state government claims that a large number of gram panchayat pradhans have stopped attending their offices following the change in government in West Bengal, resulting in an administrative vacuum that has disrupted the execution of several rural development schemes.

Officials said nearly 80 per cent of gram panchayat pradhans have remained absent from work, bringing many rural development programmes to a near standstill.

West Bengal has 3,354-gram panchayats, of which more than 3,200 were until recently controlled by the Trinamool Congress.

However, political observers believe that since a majority of the state’s gram panchayats continue to be controlled by the Trinamool Congress, the proposed Bill is intended to curtail the financial authority of elected panchayat leaders, thereby enabling the BJP-led state government to exercise greater administrative and financial control over gram panchayat functioning.

The department, however, maintained that the prolonged absence of elected heads has affected the implementation of several schemes, particularly the state’s 125-day employment programme under VB-G RAM G.

According to officials, project approvals have slowed considerably, wage payments have been delayed and the execution of development works has suffered because authorised signatories are unavailable to clear bills.

“This has also raised concerns over statutory wage payments under the employment schemeThe workers are required to receive their wages within 15 days of completing work, failing which the government becomes liable to pay compensation. So, this delay could impose a significant financial burden on the state exchequer,” another official said.

The announcement came after Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh met Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in New Delhi to review agriculture, horticulture, rural development and the Panchayati Raj system in the state.

Following the meeting, officials said the Centre had assured the state of its support for strengthening rural administration.

They also confirmed that an additional one lakh houses have been sanctioned for West Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), with surveys currently underway to identify eligible beneficiaries.