Bhubaneswar, June 23 (IANS) Ahead of panchayat elections in 2017, the Odisha government has approved a proposal to add 500 new panchayats in the state, a minister said on Thursday.
The government has approved proposals from the districts to form new panchayats in the state and a formal notification on this context would be issued soon, said Panchayati Raj Minister Arun Sahu.
The new panchayats would go to polls during the upcoming panchayat elections in 2017, he added.
Panchayati Raj Secretary Deoranjan Singh said the details of the formation of panchayats would be submitted to the State Election Commission (SEC) in a month's time.
Presently, the state has 6,211 Panchayats.
The state government would issue a notification about the formation of new panchayats including wards and reservations.
Sources said that panchayats having more than 10,000 population will be bifurcated in line with the poll manifesto of the ruling Biju Janata Dal to create smaller panchayats.
According to the poll manifesto, all villages with a population of 1000 or more will be converted into gram panchayats in a phased manner to improve local governance and service delivery.
