Mysuru: Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister H K Patil has said that the department is framing 60 new rules for the effective implementation of the Acts, and the process will be completed before March 15. The minister was addressing the MLCs and officers of RDPR during inaugural ceremony of two-day workshop for MLCs about various programmes of the RDPR department at Abdul Nazir Saab State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Institute here on Friday.

Patil said, the department has withdrawn 23 circulars and several government orders issued to implement the provisions under the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act. “Of the 60 rules, 30 are already finalised and the draft of another 10 rules will be finalised in the next 10 days. The authorities are awaiting a parliamentary notification for the remaining 20 rules and the rule-framing process will be completed before March 15,” he said.

RDPR minister said, the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act was implemented only after 20 years of its enactment due to the negligence of the authorities. “Under ‘Namma Grama Namma Yojane’ concept, the gram panchayats prepare their own plans. The RDPR department has prepared a data base of human development index at village level to use them for planning programmes,” he said.

Patil said, after pure drinking water was made available in rural regions, 40% of the water-borne diseases among the people has decreased. “People, especially in rural areas, suffer from many health hazards due to the consumption of contaminated water. So, the government has decided to set up 7,000 pure drinking water units by 2018 to provide them pure drinking water,” he said.

After the RDPR department started using the software ‘Gandhi Sakshi Kayaka’ to monitor development projects implemented by various state departments, 80% of the corruption has declined. The contractors or authorities can only claim the bills only after the photos of different stages of work, related documents and bills are generated. Payment of all bills related to the projects are done online, added the minister.