From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Nov 18: It is now the responsibility of the gram panchayats (GPs) to prevent sexual harassment of women under the Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, tabled in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
The Bill, introduced in the State Assembly by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil, makes it mandatory on the part of the GPs to report to the concerned authorities, sexual harassment of women in work places, educational institutions, and other public places within the panchayat area.
The Bill, also called as the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Pancahayat Raj Bill, has made GPs responsible for report acts of quarrying, drilling bore wells, excavating open wells or ponds as to prevent nuisance or danger to the inhabitants and to take steps together with the appropriate government departments.
The GPs in Karnataka will be empowered to generate more funds to meet their expenses and fund basic infrastructure services.
The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Pancahayat Raj Bill tabled in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday by Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H K Patil envisages GPs to collect tax from owners of residential buildings, commercial buildings, industries, factories, IT parks, hardware park, textile park, power plants, special economic zones, vacant plots, taxes on advertisement and hoardings.
Members of both Opposition BJP and JD(S) and the ruling Congress party are expected to debate the Bill widely during the ongoing session.
The 138-page Bill proposed several provisions for empowering GPs.
The GPs would be empowered to levy taxes on mobile towers, wind mills and solar parks, collect vehicle parking fee from owners of buses, trucks, and motor cycle etc, fee on registration of cattle, fee on grazing cattle in the grazing lands, road cutting charges.
It seeks to provide for devolution of funds based on the recommendations of State Finance Commission and not less than 20 per cent of such funds should be untied grants.
The Bill was drafted based on the recommendations of a committee, headed by Senior Congress member K R Ramesh Kumar, the former Speaker of the Assembly.
Under the Bill, creation of Commissionerate of Panchayat Raj would cost Rs 3.44 crore and expenditure on account of the constitution of Karnataka Panchayat Administrative Service cannot be contemplated at this stage.
It make declaration of assets and liabilities of the elected GP members mandatory.
The proposed Bill will grant the Minister of State rank to presidents of zilla panchayats.
Once the Bill is passed, Zilla Panchayat (ZP) presidents will be eligible for perks and allowances enjoyed by Ministers of State rank.
The ZP chiefs will also enjoy a five-year term in office.They will be eligible for a monthly salary of Rs. 40,000, sumptuary allowance of Rs. 3 lakh, house-rent allowances of Rs. 80,000 a month, bungalow maintenance allowance of Rs. 20,000 and petrol quota of 1,000 litres a month.
Major recommendations included constitution of grievances authorities at the gram, taluk and zilla panchayat levels; compulsory declaration of assets and liabilities by members of all panchayat bodies; and formulation of Directive Principles of Panchayat Policy to enable rural local bodies to implement welfare functions.
According to the proposed amendments, panchayat members will lose their membership if they fail to submit the details of their assets and liabilities every year. It proposes to empower ZP presidents to assess the performance of officials, including that of the Chief Executive Officers, and write confidential reports.
Compulsory conduct of gram sabhas to select beneficiaries under welfare schemes and telecast of meetings in local cable TV channels would be mandatory as per the Bill.