A demand to form at least 28 new blocks in the five districts of Raipur division was reported to have been raised in the ongoing public hearings being conducted by the Commission established for re-organization of development blocks in the State.
The public hearing was held by the Commission in the Zila Panchayat building in the city on Thursday.
The number of proposals received by the Commission for the re-organization of development blocks are as follows—Raipur (2), Gariaband (5), Mahasamund (10), Baloda-Bazar Bhatapara (7) and Dhamtari (4).
People present in the hearing today presented their views to Commission Chairman S K Mishra on the proposals to form new development blocks in the 5 districts of Raipur division.
A demand was raised for new development blocks in Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara where people had been asking for a total of 6 new development blocks. In other parts of the Raipur division, demand for new development block of Sarsiva in Bilaigarh was raised besides Suhela in Simga, Sandi Mulpar in Pilari, Arjuni in Baloda Bazar and Girodpuri in Kasdol.
This apart, a total of two new development blocks of Mandir Hasod and Kharora are being demanded in Raipur district, Bhakhara, Devergaon, Kukrail, Belargaon and Gatta Seoni in Dhamtari district, Amlipadar and Piparchedi in Gariaband district and Patewa, Pithora, Sankra , Bhanwarpur In Mahasamund district.
Demanding Kharora as a new development block, the villagers present in the hearing before the Commission said that there are a total of 95 Gram panchayats under Tilda in which 45 come under Kharora. The rest of the villages are far away from Kharora, they stated.
The people who had arrived from the five districts had come with the details on why their regions could be suitable for developing into a new block by informing about the characteristics of their respective regions to the Commission Chairman.
A number of applicants also came with the problems of their region to get their panchayats considered as a new development block.
Many of the villagers also complained that their panchayats are far away from the district headquarters so they should be considered for being declared as a new development block.
Overall, a total of 170 proposals had been received on re-organisation of development blocks from across the State.