State Pradhan Sangathan has decided to intensity its movement from October 1 if its demand of the withdrawal of the order of reduction of funds for panchayats from the 14th finance commission budget is not met by September 30.
SPS president Girveer Parmar said that no positive step has been taken so far despite the outfit staging a movement for days. According to him, other demands include immediate implementation of Uttarakhand Panchayatiraj Act 2016. Besides, various Government departments must be brought under the panchayats as per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.
He said that several memorandums have been submitted to the State Government through administrative officers. “Yet, the Government has remained apathetic. Along with the association members, I recently met the Panchayatiraj Minister Arvind Pandey and he assured us of addressing our demands by September 30. A meeting was held involving the association members during which it was decided that we would wait till September 30 for the Government to act as promised. If the Government fails to meet the demands we would resort to hunger strike by way of intensifying the movement,” Parmar warned. For the present, the sit- in would continue at Parade Ground, he added.
Nainital district association president Kundan Singh said, “We cannot sit idle with the state government being intent on smothering life of the rural democratic institutions. This is in contravention of the Constitution too. We will intensify our protests in support of our demands.”