PATNA, June 22 -- Bihar director general of police (DGP) Vinay Kumar on Saturday said that a police officer will be designated as nodal officer in each police station to work in coordination with the concerned gram panchayat and gram katchahary. "I am of the opinion that public is police and police is public, and if petty crimes are nipped in the bud at the local level, 80% of crimes in Bihar can be eliminated," he said while speaking at a one-day workshop on Role of Police in the Local Government, organised by the Office of the Chair Professor, Panchayati Raj, Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna. The DGP also urged Chair Professor of Panchayati Raj, Prof SP Singh, to organise training sessions for inspectors and DSP-level officers on the effective functioning of the Panchayati Raj system. About 120 representatives of the local government of Bihar attended the workshop, which focused on ways to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system. Tracing the origins of the Panchayati Raj system, Prof SP Singh, Registrar and Chair Professor of Panchayati Raj, said Bihar was the first state in India to introduce the Gram Katchahary concept under Section 49 of the Bihar Panchayati Raj Act, 1947. Prashant Kumar, Director of the Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Bihar, highlighted the importance of training for elected representatives of local bodies. "To strengthen the Panchayati Raj system, 8,093 lower division clerks are going to be appointed. Any citizen can also lodge a case in the Gram Katchahary through an online portal, and this facility will be further strengthened," he added. Representatives of local government, including Rashmi Kumari, shared their views on the functioning of the Panchayati Raj system in Bihar....