ZP elections will be organised on the basis of reorganised districts, says Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Panchayat Raj & Rural Development (PR&RD) and Environment & Forest K. Pawan Kalyan informed the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that the government planned to conduct the Zilla Parishad (ZP) elections on the basis of the newly reorganised districts, and expressed the government’s commitment to empowering the local bodies in order to make them self-reliant.

Making a statement during the discussion on demands for grants to PR, Rural Development and Forest, Science, Technology and Environment, amounting to nearly ₹27,417 crore, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said arrangements were being made to align the ZPs with the current district boundaries and that there were no legal issues that hampered the redistribution of Gram Panchayats (GPs). He said the government took various measures to strengthen the PR institutions soon after its formation in June 2024 and the results could be seen.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the government contemplated bringing a new law that would make compensating for the trees felled to expand roads and take other development works, through alternative means mandatory. Stringent action had been planned to be taken against illegal felling of trees to protect the green cover.

The Forest Department would henceforth do geo-tagging of every sapling distributed by it so that their condition could be properly monitored from time to time. The best practices followed by the nurseries in Bengaluru were being studied to adopt them back home.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said the task force that had been assigned the job of curbing the smuggling of red sanders was keeping a close watch, and auctioning the logs at global market prices as per well laid-out guidelines to ensure the best possible returns for the State exchequer.