Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government has constituted 81 new panchayats across the state, taking the total number of gram panchayats to 3,701. The Panchayati Raj Department issued a formal notification regarding the formation of the new panchayats on Monday.
However, the formation of three proposed panchayats—two in Shimla district and one in Solan—has been kept on hold due to public objections.
According to officials, the government has also received proposals for the creation of 68 more panchayats. These proposals have been approved by the Chief Minister’s Office and forwarded to the Secretary of the Panchayati Raj Department. The number of panchayats in the state is likely to increase further in the next three to four days once these proposals are cleared.
Along with issuing the notification, the government has directed Deputy Commissioners to determine the population of wards and finalize their boundaries in the newly formed panchayats. They have also been instructed to complete the re-delimitation of 162 panchayats—those from which areas have been carved out and those affected by the changes—within three days.
The state government is scheduled to release the reservation roster for panchayats on March 31, which will determine which panchayats will be reserved for different categories.
Notably, as per directions of the Supreme Court, elections to Panchayati Raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh must be conducted before May 31.
District-wise new panchayats
According to the notification, the highest number of new panchayats has been formed in Kangra district with 20. Chamba has received 6 new panchayats, Shimla 9, Una 6, Sirmaur 8, Solan 11, Hamirpur 7, Kullu 4, Mandi 5, Kinnaur 2, Bilaspur 2 and Lahaul-Spiti 1.
Third phase of formation
This is the third phase of forming new panchayats in the state. Earlier, the government had created 4 new panchayats in the first phase and 39 in the second phase.
Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh said the notification for the new panchayats has been issued and officials have been asked to finalize ward populations and boundaries by March 20.
