A state level Congress conference held at the Party state headquarter Rajiv Bhavan today was skipped by the state Congress ministers as it was attended by the AICC PRI incharge Ms. Jayanti Natrajan. Speaking on the occasion, the Party state Congress leader Mr. Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that since Mr. Singh has convened state council ministers meeting today therefore the party Panchayati Raj Minister Mr. Anil Sharma and Town and Country planning ministers skipped the important meeting.
He said that it was Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who worked to restore the rights of rural and urban bodies enshrined under constitutional amendment 75 and 73. He said that Congress party always works to delegate more power to the local self governments as it is grass root unit of our democratic set up in the country. He said that party state conference was of importance as central government curbs down the power given to three tier PRI bodies under the 14th finance Commission.
Ms. Jayanti Natrajan said that AICC was working to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system as similar conferences and deliberations have been convened in all the Congress ruled state by the respective state units so that rural local bodies could be consulted to make them part of decisions making.
She said that during the state conference of PRI representatives several issues and problem faced by them were discussed in the conventions. She said that this hill state is among few states in the country where PRIs is functioning smoothly and 63 percent of them are women. She said that similar conferences would be held in other states concluded by the national conferences.
