Centre set to roll out complete decentralised planning programme in 2016

NEW DELHI: It will soon be possible to find out how much money has been allocated to a scheme and what public facilities are being built at the gram panchayat level with just a click of a mouse.

With the help of satellite technology, the Narendra Modi government is all set to roll out its complete decentralised planning programme in 2016. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will implement the programme, which will enable users, including state governments, the Centre and planners, to not only learn what schemes are being implemented but also monitor the progress of work on them. The ministry is in the process of integrating the various software packages it uses and the programme will be first tested as a pilot project in five districts in the states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

The National Remote Sensing Centre has developed a software programme – Bhuvan Panchayat – that provides satellite imagery right down to the gram panchayat level. The panchayati raj ministry has linked this package to its software tools such as PlanPlus, which helps in planning, and ActionSoft, which is used to monitor the progress of public works.

"So when planners or even the common man go to a common web portal, they can click on the gram panchayat and know how much money is coming to it under different schemes. When Masset software is linked, it also shows what all assets have been created there and what the gram panchayat lacks," a senior official told ET.