By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A mini secretariat for a cluster of villages should be set up to strengthen the panchayat raj system at the grassroot level, said Munna Singh Chauhan, BJP MLA in Uttarakhand on Saturday.
Delivering the valedictory address at the Concluding Session of the national workshop on ‘Decentralisation and Devolution in Uttarakhand Post 73rd and 74th: Achievements: Challenges and Strategies for Strengthening Grassroots Governance” organised by Doon University under the aegis of Sixth State Finance Commission of Uttarakhand, Chauhan who is MLA from Vikasnagar constituency, said at least one panchayat secretariat should have a secretary, supported by two persons — one technical and other with finance management background in order to make the local-self-governance system effective.
Speaking at a special session on “Voices from the Grassroots,’’ veteran BJP leader Jot Singh Bisht, who is president of Uttarakhand Block Pramukh Sangathan provided a roadmap for strengthening block and village panchayats. “Roaster for reservation of seats in panchayat system should be synchronised with the population census so that good candidates can opt for re-election and their experiences can be harnessed,” Bisht said.
Likewise, Bisht said, there should be a minimum eligibility criteria for the candidature in the panchayat system.
Dehradun Mayor Saurabh Thapliyal emphasised that there was an overlap of functions between Nagar Nigams and a number of parallel authorities like MDDA, and other institutions engaged in sanitation, water, road, land, electricity and others. He also called for transferring all the functions, as envisaged in 74th amendment, to the nagar nigams.
Former Mayor of Rishikesh Anita Mamgain narrated the experiences of her municipality and highlighted some success stories of rehabilitation of street vendors with dignity and raising of local revenues for the local development.
Former Pradhan of Dharkot, Tehri Garhwal, Nivedita Panwar lamented the marginalisation of women in panchayat system and dominance of ‘pradhan patis’ in the process of functioning.
Eminent experts, leading academicians and heads of national administrative and financial institutions from across the country made significant deliberations on challenges and gains in devolution of powers, financial resources and effective functioning of local self-governing bodies — Panchayats and Municipalities — with a special reference to Uttarakhand.
Those who made presentations today included Prof H C Pokhariyal, Indu Kumar Pande, Sunil Kumar, Prof O P Bora, Prof V N Alok, Dr Anjan Kumar Bhanja, Namami Bansal and M C Joshi and many others.
Calling for decentralisation of powers to promote grassroots democracy and service deliveries by further strengthening these bodies, Head of the Department of Economics and Dean of School of Social Sciences Professor Rajendra P Mamgain underlined the importance of the workshop and said that since the optimum potential of the 73rd and 74th Amendment yet to realised, we need more churning, studies and discussions on the issue to thrash out the way forward.
N. Ravi Shankar, Chairperson of the Sixth State Finance Commission of Uttarakhand, explained the process and functions of the current State Finance Commission, elaborating on its role in ensuring equitable financial transfers and support for local governance.
The two-day workshop finally culminated in laying out the road map not only for discussions but for implementation of the provisions of 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments in letter and spirit in Uttarakhand.