Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi today said elections to panchayats would be held at the earliest as there is a directive from the Supreme Court to do so.
"We have to hold the civic polls as per the directive of the Supreme Court to conduct them at the earliest," she told residents of Sombupet in Mannadipet assembly constituency while on her weekend visit.
On May 9, the Supreme Court had directed the Union Territory of Puducherry to complete the delimitation process in four weeks and hold the panchayat and municipal elections.
Puducherry has two municipal councils while Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions have one municipality each.
There are 10 commune panchayats (five each in Puducherry and Karaikal) besides 98 village panchayats in all the four regions.
Bedi said that till gram panchayats were brought into existence through elections, "it is the duty of the elders in the villages to come forward and ensure that. Besides, there should be no room for any setback to the health of the people, the environment or the water bodies, and prevention of mosquito-breeding."
Stressing the need for women to get trained and become skilled, she said the agriculture department would conducta training programme for women under the National Horticulture Mission.
The Indian Bank would hold camps to financially empower the trained women, she added.
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