Panchayats will be strengthened by restarting the Gram Sachivalaya.

41 important roads in the remote areas of Bastar, which remained incomplete for years, have now been completed.

Raipur. Deputy Chief Minister Shri Vijay Sharma has said that rural secretariats will be restarted to quickly resolve the problems of rural areas. He said that Chhattisgarh ranks first in the country in terms of building PM houses at the fastest pace. The highest number of PM houses are being built here every day. He said that 18 lakh PM houses were approved in the first cabinet itself to provide housing to eligible families in the rural areas of the state. These houses are being completed rapidly. Deputy Chief Minister and Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Shri Vijay Sharma said this while addressing the journalists in a press conference held today at Samvad Bhawan, Nava Raipur. On this occasion, he gave detailed information regarding the innovations, achievements and future action plans made by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department in the last two years.

Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sharma said that we had previously fought for the "More Housing, More Rights" campaign, and now it's time for results. After the elections, the government approved 1.8 million houses, including those incomplete for years, those on the waiting list, those included in Awas Plus, and those under the Chief Minister's Housing Scheme. He stated that housing has been provided not only to the homeless, but also to over 3,000 surrendered and Naxal-affected families. Approval has been granted to over 33,000 people from Special Backward Tribes under the PM Janman and Niyyad Nella Nar, and over 9,000 in Naxal-affected areas, of which over 2,000 houses have been completed. Self-help group members have also played a crucial role in accelerating housing construction in the state. In some cases, they became dealers to supply building materials to villages, while in others, they manufactured centering plates to ensure uninterrupted supply to villages. Employment has been provided by training more than 8000 dealer Didi for supplying centering plates and other construction materials to the housing beneficiaries and more than 5000 masons have been provided employment by training them through ARSETI and Project Unnati for building houses.  

He said, "During the election, we promised to ensure financial transactions in every village. Today, in two phases, transactions totaling more than ₹919 crore have been completed through 6,195 Atal Digital Suvidha Kendras in the state. Now, people don't need to go outside their villages to withdraw money or perform banking tasks."  

On this occasion, he informed that the state has also begun collecting panchayat taxes online through the Samarth Panchayat portal. Sankara in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district is the first gram panchayat in the country where tax collection was done through UPI. Recently, the Secretary of the Union Panchayat Ministry praised this initiative and urged Maharashtra's panchayats to take inspiration from it. Now, Bombay will also learn from Raipur how the digital revolution is being adopted in every village of the state.      

Online documentation of assets in the state is also being done through the Gram Sampada mobile app so that information about the infrastructure built in the village can be obtained online and better plans can be made for village development. Chhattisgarh has been a leading state in conducting the elections of three-tier Panchayats on time by implementing the new reservation provision in compliance with the decision of the Honourable Supreme Court, whereas this has not been possible till now in big states like Maharashtra and Telangana.  

To increase the participation of rural women and boost their self-confidence, 368 Mahatari Sadans are being constructed in the state, of which 137 have been completed. Fulfilling the promise made in the manifesto, the government has provided approximately ₹49.30 crore in arrears for the difference in the new pay scales of Panchayat Secretaries.

In the construction of PM Janman roads, roads from Amethi to Kamardera, Doomarpali to Kamardera, Mama Bhancha to Kamardera, Joratarai to Kamardera have been constructed in Mahasamund district by using waste plastic obtained from Swachhatagrahi Didis. He told that there were 41 such roads in Naxal affected areas of Bastar division, which were not constructed for many years, their construction has been completed today. Tumdipara road of Tadmetla in Sukma district which was pending for eight years, and Nadenar to Katekalyan Kapanar road of Dantewada which was incomplete for 20 years have been completed.    

He informed that for the first time since independence, 807 roads are being constructed under PM Janman to connect settlements of Scheduled Tribes (Specially Backward Tribes). Roads have been constructed to the Pahari Korwa community of Bandhokona B, located in the inaccessible hills of Manora development block of Jashpur, and to the settlements of the Scheduled Tribe Baiga community living in Shambhupipar of Kawardha. In the fourth phase of PMGSY, roads spanning over 2500 km will be constructed in the state. A plan has been developed to monitor the construction of these roads through ISRO and geo-imaging, so that road construction anywhere in the state can be monitored at any time from the headquarters.  

He informed that to encourage the women of the state, the monthly radio program "Didi Ke Goth" is being conducted on the second Thursday of every month by the women of the self-help groups. The "Chhattiskala" brand has been created for standardizing the products produced by the women of the self-help groups and for their marketing and branding. The women of Bastar are also processing and marketing the forest produce grown in the village themselves. In the coming times, these women will be seen selling their products in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai as well.  

Under Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, along with completing the construction of toilets for 1.86 lakh families in the state, community toilets have been constructed in 2000 schools, Anganwadis and 1000 tourist places, religious places, haat bazaars, bus stands.  

To ensure transparency and accountability in MNREGA, QR codes have been installed alongside development works in all gram panchayats across the state. By scanning these codes with a mobile phone, anyone can obtain complete information about all ongoing works in the gram panchayats. So far, more than 450,000 people have accessed information about the scheme by scanning the QR codes. The state government has also been honored for this.  

In a novel initiative towards water conservation, under the "More Village More Water" campaign, more than 2.32 lakh water conservation works have been completed through collective labour and public participation. More than 10,000 livelihood ponds are being constructed in the state. In the last two years, 86 camps have been set up in Naxal-affected areas, providing various facilities in 494 villages.

On this occasion, Principal Secretary Ms. Niharika Barik, Secretary Mr. Bhim Singh, Commissioner Mr. Taran Prakash Sinha, Director Mr. Ashwini Devangan, Director Panchayat Ms. Priyanka Mahobiya and other officers were present.