Assam: Need to Develop 258 Gaon Panchayat Office Infrastructure

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Following the Panchayat election in the state, new panchayat bodies will be formed within a month or so. People have great expectations from these, as panchayats are connected to development at the grassroots level in rural areas.

However, the condition of some Gaon Panchayat offices is not that good, and several posts are also lying vacant. It is expected from the state government and the panchayats to give more thrust to the improvement of infrastructure for the panchayat bodies, as well as proper implementation of the MGNREGS.

As of date, there are 2,192 Gaon Panchayat offices in the state. Of this, the infrastructure in 258 Gaon Panchayat offices is not up to the mark. The highest number of 36 such offices with weak infrastructure is in Cachar district, followed by 34 in Hailakandi district. Other districts with weak infrastructure in Gaon Panchayat offices are Barpeta with 25, Sivasagar with 22, Lakhimpur with 17, Dhubri with 16, Darrang with 15, Bongaigaon, Sonitpur and Sribhumi with 13 each, Golaghat and Goalpara with 12 each, Kamrup with 7, Morigaon, Dhemaji, Hojai, Bajali and South Salmara-Mankachar with 4 each, Tinsukia with 2 and Jorhat with 1 such office.

It needs to be mentioned that 594 posts in Zilla Parishad offices and 2,710 posts in Block Development Offices are lying vacant as of March 25.

Moreover, under MGNREGS, the number of households which completed 100 days of wage employment in FY 2024-25 is 23,987. It now depends on the efficiency of the new panchayats to improve the figure. It is the primary objective of the MGNREGS to provide 100 days of wage employment in a year to households with job cards.

Also Read: Assam: BJP gears up for upcoming Gaon Panchayat polls

Also Watch: