Tripura Chief Minister Prof. Dr Manik Saha on Monday said that under the Panchayat Advancement Index, 42 Panchayats of the state achieved Grade-A, while not a single one from Tripura received Grade-D.

He also urged all Panchayat representatives to work with accountability to further strengthen the Panchayats.

Dr Saha said this while addressing the Two-Day Panchayati Raj Capacity Building Programme at the State Panchayat Resource Centre, A. D. Nagar, Agartala.

While addressing the Chief Minister said that in the Panchayat Advancement Index, the Panchayats in Tripura have secured good ratings—42 achieved Grade-A, 728 Panchayats secured Grade-B, and the remaining 406 Panchayats obtained Grade-C, while no Panchayat from Tripura fell under Grade-D.

“Rural governance, if strengthened, will strengthen the state government. Panchayats are an important pillar of democracy. The three-tier Panchayat system is the base. If this is strong, then we can progress further. A strengthened three-tier Panchayat will also strengthen the country. The state and central governments have many schemes, and Panchayats are solely responsible for implementing them; otherwise, a country or state cannot be strengthened,” he said.

Dr Saha added that transparency is the biggest weapon, and everyone must work with transparency.

“We have seen what happened during the Left regime. Panchayats turned into hubs of politics. We have moved beyond that situation. We have been elected for the common people, and we must work for them by implementing various schemes through Panchayats. In our state, around 60 to 70% of people live in rural areas. Our GSDP and per capita income depend on rural economic development, and we are working on this. We have to develop villages in an overall way. After PM Modi came to power, our government has been working for rural development, starting from drinking water, education, health, and other sectors,” he said.

He also informed that in the Panchayat Devolution Index, Tripura came in 7th position, while in 2015, it was 13th.

Panchayat Minister Kishor Barman, Secretary Abhishek Singh, Director Prasun Dey and other dignitaries were present at the event.