In a whirlwind tour across the State, he aims to complete nearly 120 public meetings to promote the Eco village programme, which could cost the State Rs. 450 crores. While no fresh doles are being handed out to people, they have to qualify with certain minimum criteria to be eligible for funds under the programme, launched on October 2, 2010. Going by the large turnout at the meetings, the response has been overwhelming, says Mr. Patil.
Extra funds
To qualify under the eco village programme, each village has to achieve the target of “one person one tree,” at least 60 per cent of the families have to build toilets and avoid open defecation, and tax collection should be around 60 per cent. About 14,000 gram panchayats are set to qualify for the eco village programme and funds will be allotted to them for further development, depending on the size of their population. The motivation to qualify is the extra funds.
The formula is simple – “think globally, act locally”. Each person in the village has to plant at least one tree; that was the initial programme that preceded the eco village concept. Mr. Patil’s interactive speeches are full of climate change references, humourous appeals to build toilets, and the audience is responsive. In an interview, Mr. Patil told The Hindu that last February he had called a meeting of all the chief executive officers of the zilla parishads before a government resolution was drafted for the ‘one person one tree’ programme. “We had decided to gear up the machinery to make saplings available in a planned way and we also evolved a system of reporting from the gram panchayat level to the deputy secretary. The tree plantation reports were good initially and now in 19,000 gram panchayats (of the total 27,920), it has been highly successful,” he said.
Accordingly, gram panchayats with a population of less than 1000 will be eligible for Rs. two lakhs every year . Those with more than 1000 population will get Rs. three lakh every year . Larger gram panchayats will be entitled to 30 lakhs.