In an attempt to clip the wings of the District Panchayats the State Government has decided in principle to withdraw the rights of the Panchayat to pass residential maps in the urban area. Announcement to this effect was made by PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav in the Vidhan Sabha during the passage of Housing budget hereon Thursday.
“The Government has come across many anomalies where Chairman, District Panchayat, willfully passed maps of the residential areas. When these complaints were verified these were found to be true. So, the Government has decided in principle to withdraw the rights of the District Panchayat Chairman to pass the maps,” the minister said.
The announcement was opposed by the BJP members who said that this decision of the government was unilateral and against the spirit of democracy and development. “There is an attempt to curtail the rights of the elected bodies,” he said.
This decision has come at the heel of the Government decision to curtail power of Mayors. The UP government has decided to bring in UP Nagar Nigam (amendment) Bill 2015 which has a provisions for dismissal of mayors and chairmen by the government in the local bodies. Of the 13 Nagar Nigam or Corporation in UP, BJP has its mayors in 10 cities.
Yadav said that no one has the right to continue in post if he is found indulged in corrupt practices. “We expect that leaders of all political parties should support Government in fighting corruption,” he said. He churned out details to explain as how chairmen were getting the maps passed which is creating hurdle in development of towns.
Opposing the move the BJP members said that State Government was illegally acquiring land from the farmers to set up colonies. They even questioned land deal in construction of Agra-lucknow Expressway. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who was present in the House intervenes to say that BJP members have no right to talk about land bill. Their own land bill is full of lacunae forcing all political parties to oppose it,” he said.