Bengaluru,  Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday that the state government will launch the 'Grama Seva Yojane' on a trial basis in five districts to provide online citizen services at the gram panchayat level.

The Chief Minister was addressing the inaugural function of the Amrutha Grama Panchayat scheme held at the Banquet hall of the Vidhan Soudha here.

The scheme would be implemented with the aspiration that the village panchayats would become centres for providing citizen services and the government facilities should be delivered at the doorsteps of the people.

"Democracy can succeed with people's participation. Unfortunately, we have turned people into beneficiaries. Instead, we need to encourage their participation in governance. Planning should be done at the grassroots level and funds must be provided by the government," the CM said.

Under the Amrutha Grama Panchayat scheme, overall development of 750 village panchayats is envisaged and on an average, Rs 3 crore is being provided to each panchayat, amounting to Rs 2,300 crore in total.

An incentive of Rs 25 lakh is being provided to each panchayat that completes the programme by March 31, 2022, he said.

If all the gram panchayats succeed to meet the deadline, 1,500 anchayats would be selected for the scheme for next year, he said.

For the successful implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the flagship programme of the government of India to ensure 100 per cent coverage of functional household tap connection in rural areas, the state government released Rs 2,000 crore recently, the CM said.

Speaking on the occasion, Giriraj Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, appreciated the functioning of th Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state.

He said that all gram panchayats must be connected digitally by 2024, as he directed the state government to implement the same on priority.