GULBARGA: Worried by the repeated incidents of harassment of Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) by elected representatives, the state government is contemplating to bring in a few rules to control these occurrences. Speaking to Express, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar expressed unhappiness over the recent manhandling of PDO Ramachandra Hulemani in Yalasangi gram panchayat of Aland taluk by gram panchayat member Sharanappa Maang. A worried Shettar said that it is the third incident in three months in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. In view of this, it has been decided to bring about an amendment to the Panchayat Raj Act to disqualify GP members if they are found harassing PDOs. “By bringing in this amendment we can prevent GP members from going to court to escape disqualification and the threat of disqualification would ensure that they do not harass the PDOs,” he said. Another proposal the government has is to relax the prevailing rule of not transferring PDOs for at least three years. Shettar said that shortly the government will issue an order empowering the CEO of the ZPs concerned to effect transfers of PDOs to the extent of 5 per cent, if they feel that the problems between the elected representatives and PDOs are getting out of hand. “As the concept of a PDO is new and they were appointed just one and half years ago, it is essential that the government issues an order to empower the CEO to effect transfer of PDOs,” said the minister. Shettar also said that he has already instructed the CEOs of all ZPs to hold joint meetings with PDOs and GP presidents frequently to sort out problems, adding that CEOs were already holding such meetings.
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