Team of Bihari MLAs visits Mangalore to study GP system

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, September 9, 2011: The members of the Bihar Legislative Committee on Panchayat Raj and Zilla Parishad expressed their appreciation for the panchayats in Karnataka and their effective tax collection systems. Around 10 members of this committee, who are travelling all over India to study the Panchayat Raj system, visited Mangalore yesterday and met Dr. K. N. Vijayaprakash, the CEO of the DK Zilla Panchayat.

 

MLA Anandi Prasad Yadav, the chief of the team, said that the team wants to study the system and recommend changes to the Bihari government, adding that Bihar wants to adopt the best practices and strengthen its own panchayats. The government of Bihar wants to reach out to the villagers and achieve the level already achieved by the Karnataka government, he added.

The team has already visited Mysore and Bangalore and plans to visit Goa and Kerala.

Tax Collection System
The team was especially interested in the tax collection system. Dr. K. N. Vijayaprakash informed them that the 203 GPs in DK were collecting 93 percent taxes. Responding to this piece of information, MLA Bhumendra Narayan Singh, one of the team, said that tax collection is poor in Bihar because 42 percent of the population of Bihar is below poverty line.

The MLAs were also appreciative of the educational qualifications of the panchayat members. Mr. Yadav said that the members can represent better because of their education. They were also appreciative of the roads and water supply in the district.

Sanitation Campaign
The team was also informed about the Total Sanitation campaign in all 203 GPs, which have won the Nirmal Gram Puraskars. They were also informed about the e-governance system and about campaigns to ban the use of plastic.

The team was also interested in knowing more about the education system, particularly about the deemed universities.