Bantwal : Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) K.S. Eshwarappa inagurated the Janasevaka Samavesha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Bantara Bhavana in BC Road on Monday, January 11.

Addressing the gathering  minister said that all gram panchayats in the State will harness solar energy by installing solar panels on their buildings.

The RDPR will provide ₹ 3 lakh to ₹ 4 lakh to each gram panchayat for the purpose. The gram panchayats will have to muster the remaining funds required for installing the panels through their own resources or from the grants of MLAs.

He asked the newly elected members of the panchayats to repair the anganwadi buildings in their jurisdiction. The government provided ₹ 5 lakh for constructing a new anganwadi building, he said.

The Minister asked the panchayats to focus on keeping the villages clean and build solid waste management units by making use of funds available under the Swacch Bharat Mission.

Mr. Eshwarappa said that the government has also launched a scheme to supply piped water to each house in villages.

He said that the government will soon arrange for training the newly elected members of all gram panchayats for three days. In all, 900 resource persons are now ready to impart training the cost of which will be shared by both the Union and State governments.

Once the presidents and vice-presidents of the gram panchayats are elected, they too will be trained, he said.

The Minister asked women to take lead in the administration of panchayats.

The party had organised the samavesha to congratulate the newly elected members who were supported by the BJP.

N. Ravi Kumar, State general secretary of the BJP, and Eeranna Kadadi, State president of Ratia Morcha of the party, also spoke.

Y. Bharat Shetty, D. Vedavyas Kamath, Umanath A. Kotian, Sanjeeva Matandoor, Harish Poonja, S. Angara, all MLAs of the party, and Kota Srininivasa Poojary, Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada, were present.