Guwahati, June 20: The Assam government has decided to bolster governance at the grassroots by rationalising resource utilisation and strengthening democratic representation at the grassroots level.
In this regard, the state Cabinet had on Wednesday accorded approval to the proposal for reorganisation of development blocks and delimitation of gaon panchayats, anchalik panchayats and zilla parishads in Assam.
Official sources said that the delimitation of gaon panchayats (GP), anchalik panchayats (AP) and zilla parishads (ZP) would be completed by August 30, 2024 while the block reorganisation post GP delimitation will be completed by September 15, 2024.
The decision to complete the process by mid-September 2024 has been taken with an eye on conducting the elections for the rural bodies by the end of this year.
It may be noted that the need for reorganising and delimitation had arisen after the delimitation of Assembly constituencies, under which the existing jurisdiction of development blocks fell in more than one constituency, no longer reflected the state’s evolving growth needs
After reorganisation, a development block will belong to only one Assembly constituency. The total number of development blocks will not be more than the present number of 219.
In case any existing block is divided among two or more districts, the block will be considered in the district where the existing block headquarter lies. The maximum number of gaon panchayats in a block will be 17 post delimitation.
However, there will be no changes in the blocks for the hill districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao as no block falls in more than one Assembly constituency in these districts.
In regard to the delimitation of zilla parishads for rural legislative Assembly constituencies (LAC), each LAC will have four ZPs; for LACs having both urban and rural population, there will be one ZP for 30,000 people.
The number of gaon panchayats will remain the same as the present number post delimitation.