Aiming to soothe the frayed tempers in Muslim-dominated district of Mewat which witnessed a double murder and gang-rape of two girls and beef controversy recently, Union Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will hold a 'progress panchayat' programme aimed at redressing the grievances of the minorities and spread awareness about the Centre's welfare initiatives meant for them.
The BJP-led Centre would launch the 'progress panchayat' programme from Mewat on Thursday and it would be for the first time that such a panchayat would be held by a Union Minister to connect with the minority population of the State.
As per the schedule, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will hold 'progress panchayat' in Bichhor village of Haryana's Mewat and meet people from the minority community. Besides listening to their grievances, the Union Minister would apprize them about various welfare schemes launched for them by the Centre.
The Minister will also seek suggestions from locals on improving its programmes and functioning. Union Ministers Rao Inderjit Singh, Krishan Pal Gurjar and Haryana Cabinet Ministers Krishan Kumar Bedi, Rao Narbir Singh are scheduled to attend the 'progress panchayat' at Mewat alongwith Naqvi.
The meeting assumes significance as the Manohar lal Khattar-led BJP Government in Haryana has attracted sharp criticism from the Opposition and social outfits recently over the incidents of a double murder and gang-rape of two women and beef controversy in Mewat.
On August 25, a couple was beaten to death and two of their relatives, including a woman and a minor, were allegedly gang raped after being held hostage by armed robbers in a village in Mewat. Even as the murder and gang rape incident rocked Mewat, a new controversy had then erupted after beef was found in samples of biryani collected in the region. Haryana had last year banned beef consumption.
The Haryana Government has already handed over to the CBI Mewat's double-murder case and alleged gangrape of two girls in which the victims had also alleged the role of cow vigilantes in the State.
Besides holding the panchayat, the Union Minister will also inaugurate a 100-bed hostel building for girls at Hathni in Palwal and staff quarters at schools in Nuh and Nagina. He will also lay the founding stone for a model school in Chilwali.
Union Minister Naqvi while talking to the media persons said that the 'progress panchayat' is the first, unique and different kind of outreach programme launched by us, during which we will inform people about developmental activities in social, educational, health and infrastructural sectors and their employment.
Naqvi has also attributed the "sense of fear and misconceptions" among the minorities about the NDA Government to "disinformation campaigns" launched by its political opponents and said the 'progress panchayat" will help remove those too.