Hundreds of people, including children and women, staged a dharna in front of the Khariguda gram panchayat under Gajapati district’s Mohana blook on Thursday protesting proposed division of the GP for creating a new panchayat.
Notably, it has been proposed that new Burujheli GP would be formed with some villages of Khariguda GP. People of four villages, Chalibandh, lamadang, Chandrigaan and lanjeri, who sat on the dharna, said that they would face several difficulties if the new panchayat is formed.
“Now we live in Khariguda GP. We have to walk for only 1.5 km to the panchayat office. If Burujheli panchayat is formed, we would have to walk for 10 to 12 km,” said a villager.
They demanded that their villages not be included in the new GP. They also threatened to take to the streets if the district administration does not consider the demand.