The deadline to complete the official procedure for demarcation, delimitation, and the formation of panchayati raj bodies in Rajasthan, from the village to district level, has been extended until March 25.

The state government has extended this deadline from January 20 to March 25 based on recommendations from elected representatives and public suggestions, allowing officials adequate time to work and accommodate people’s views in the process.

Advertisement

The Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government in December last year endorsed the formation of only 8 out of the 17 new districts created by the then Congress regime in 2023.

Nine districts and three new divisions formed by the then Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government were abolished by the BJP government one and a half months ago.

This has necessitated the creation of eight new zila parishads for the newly carved-out districts. Since new districts are formed by carving out areas from adjoining districts, the new zila parishads of these bordering districts also require reconstitution and delimitation to spare areas for the newly formed bodies.

This necessitates carving out areas from existing gram panchayats and/or panchayat samitis to allocate them to the new districts for forming their panchayati raj institutional network.

Thus, a massive exercise—from the village to the sub-divisional and district collector level across all 41 districts—is presently underway to restructure the network of these rural local bodies, from remote villages to the state capital.

Detailed guidelines and a timeline have already been provided to officials, from the BDO at the panchayat level to the district collector at the district level, to work out proposals based on established norms, geography, area, crop patterns, and territorial considerations for both newly formed and existing bodies within their respective domain.

The district collectors concerned will finalise the proposal received from the village and block levels.

Before finalising the proposals for recommendation to the state government, the respective district collectors will upload them in the public domain to invite objections from the public by April 25. Public objections will be examined and incorporated, on merit, into the final draft of proposals between April 26 and May 5.

The final proposals will be sent to the state government for approval and implementation by May 25.