Yavatmal villages to be developed under Centre's scheme

The micro planning pilot project under Centre's Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Shaktikaran Abhiyan was launched here in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, officials said today.
The project that aims to give face-lift to villages of the district was launched yesterday and will be implemented by the Zilla Parishad, Zilla Parishad CEO Mallinath Kalshetty, told PTI today.
The CEO said the micro planning is Preparatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) using the de-centralised planning techniques which aims to ensure sustained development of the villages in a given time frame.
Under the scheme, development plan for each village will be prepared by micro planning scheme for the next five years.

"Two districts in each state across the country have been initially selected for the scheme. Yavatmal and Nandurbar have been chosen in Maharashtra," Kalshetty said.
A total of 1,208 villages across the district will be covered under the scheme, to be implemented in five phases.

In the first phase 300 villages in seven blocks have been selected and work in 18 villages of Babhulgaon tehsil has begin from today onwards, the official added.
The project will be supervised by Pune-based Yashwantrao Chavan Academy for Development Administration (Yashada). A team of two trainer-cum-facilitators and 5-10 to volunteers will conduct survey in the villages, he said.

The Nagpur-based Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC) will also assist in the project.
The data, pictures and material collected by the Yashada team will be analysed by MRSAC, Kalshetty added.
The funds for the project will be channelised from Backward Region Development Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme.