\Scores of members of Uttarakhand Panchayat Sangathan staged an agitation at the Vikas Bhawan on Monday protesting against alleged conspiracy of the Centre to undermine the role of the district and the block panchayat members in terms of budgetary allocation under the 14th Finance Commission. The protesters forcibly locked Vikas Bhawan office as part of their stir. The members assembled at Parade Ground and rallied till Vikas Bhawan while shouting slogans against the Centre, demanding prompt revocation of the proposed act and warning of full-blown stir if the Centre remains adamant in enforcing it.
later, they had submitted a memorandum addressed to President of India seeking redressal of their grievances through an administrative officer.
The speakers on the occasion alleged that the Centre has been ignoring the role of the elected members of district Panchayat and block Panchayat to stifle the life of the rural democratic structure.
Citing the historic 73rd Constitution Amendment Act that brought into force a three-tier Panchayati Raj System- district panchayat, block Panchayat and gram Panchayat-, the agitators said that the Centre is bent on stamping out two of the segments of rural representative structure. They said they are accountable to the people with the latter electing them through periodic elections.
One of the protestors Mahendra Singh Rana said the Centre has been playing a double game. “They are, on one hand, bragging about financial empowerment of Panchayati Raj System through elected representatives while, on the other, they are robbing the district Panchayat and block Panchayat members of their financial rights. It is strange that while the Centre has increased the budget for Panchayats multiple times as compared to previous years’ budgetary allocation under 14th Finance Commission it is crippling district Panchayat and block Panchayat in terms of their power to spend. It has landed us in great difficulty as we are finding it tough to meet the mounting aspirations of the people who have elected us to the positions we are enjoying,” said Rana.
Another protestor Beena Bahuguna said while the spending power of the members of the both Houses of the Parliament under MP local area development fund (lADF) and MlA lADF have been kept intact the Centre has robbed the two important pillars of the rural representative structure of the spending authority under the14th Finance Commission. This is a dangerous trend the objective of which is to let these institutions decay and die from within,” she added.
Another speaker Surat Singh Negi warned that they would further intensify their agitation in the coming days. “We cannot sit idle with the Centre intent on smothering life of these two rural democratic institutions. This is in contravention of the Constitution too,” he added.
Meanwhile, the administration deployed adequate police forces in view of stir called by the Uttarakhand Panchayat Sangathan members. At Vikas Bhawan, police were engaged in altercations with the protesters when the latter sought to lock the Vikas Bhawan office. However, finally, the offices of various departments located at Vikas Bhawan were locked with police not insisting to pre-empt the agitators.