Three tier committees to work parallel to panchayats would be evolved for coordination among departments and speed up development in rural areas in West Bengal.
"During the tenure of the previous government the entire system collapsed and development work stopped mainly due to lack of co-ordination among departments," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters today after a meeting with BDOs and the SDOs. The meeting decided to develop three tier committees at the block level under the BDO, the sub-divisional level under the SDO and the district level under the district magistrate, Banerjee said.
"These committees will work parallel to panchayats and where panchayats have become defunct will work independently so that the process of development does not stop," Banerjee said.
Asked to clarify whether the committees would overide elected panchayats, the chief minister said
"This does not arise because both will work parallel to each other. In case of friction between the two bodies the situation will be reviewed.”
"In many areas panchayats are not functioning properly and there is no transparency," Banerjee said.
"It is true that there is a shortage of manpower, but we are trying to develop a proper mechanism so that proper co-ordination can be maintained among different government departments and the administration can work transparently."