Opposing merger of Gram Panchayat areas into municipal corporation area, members of Tristhariya Panchayat Goan Bachao Sangharsh Simiti protested at Gandhi Park in Dehradun on Friday. The protesters submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through an administrative officer.
The Raipur block Pramukh alleged that the state government is incorporating the gram panchayats in the municipal corporations without taking the local residents into confidence and also without conducting any survey. She said that with the Central government releasing funds for the development of the villages, such works in the villages would be adversely affected if they are incorporated in the Nagar Nigam.
“Things would be all the more grim for such villages as the state government does not have adequate funds for the development of the cities and the towns,” she added.
District panchayat member Hema Purohit said that they had protested over the same issue in May this year following which the state government assured that the gram sabhas would not be incorporated in the civic bodies without the consent of the gram sabhas and the people residing there. “However, backing out of the commitment, the state cabinet has decided to move ahead on the matter,” she said.
ladpur gram pradhan Ghanshyam Pal warned that the state government must immediately withdraw the decision or else they face the ire of the people.
Furthermore, Uttaakhand Sarva Samaj Mahasangh and Gram Pradhans also staged demonstrations on the same issue on the same day in the city. The protesters led by Rajkumar Waliya assembled at Gandhi Park and vented anger against the state government’s policy over the same. Waliya said that gram panchayats cannot be incorporated in the nagar nigam without taking the people on board.