Deputy Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar today inaugurated a four day training programme for newly elected Sarpanchs of Jammu district for capacity building.The training programme is being organized by Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.Addressing the participants at the inauguration of the program, Deputy Commissioner stressed on the importance of healthy and vibrant functioning of Panchayats.Ramesh Kumar said that government intends to equip the sarpanchs and panchs through trainings aimed at making them familiar with the PR Act, participative planning, budgeting and accounting practices, social audit, etc. He said that such training programmes would go a long way in building capacities of the elected representatives and help them to chalk out their roles and responsibilities and enable them to discharge their duties more efficiently.He asked the Sarpanchs to spread social awareness on schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana, Immunisation, and various other state and centrally sponsored schemes.It was informed that the sessions of training will be interactive wherein the trainees will be briefed about the role of local governance in the development of villages and communities and development schemes as well as programmes, resources of panchayats and their utilization, etc.Earlier, DPO Jammu briefed about the four day training programme and informed that today’s training programme will include different sessions on the topics like Sustainable Development goals (SDGs), People’s participation in Development and HPDP(GPDP) and Good Governance and Leadership Skills.Among others, ACD Jammu, District Panchayat Officer Jammu, BDOs, resource persons, sarpanchs in large numbers were present in the training programme.