PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Uttarkashi
Demanding immediate decisions on a slew of long-pending panchayat-related demands, a delegation of the district panchayat members led by the state secretary of the district panchayat members’ organisation, Deependra Kohli submitted a memorandum to the additional district magistrate, Uttarkashi, at the district collectorate office, addressed to the chief minister. The demands which figure in the memorandum includes immediate election of the District Planning Committee. They warned the state government that if their demands are not addressed in a month, the organisation would be forced to launch a full-blown, state-wide movement.
“The panchayats are the fulcrum of inclusive democracy, but the State government has been sitting on the panchayat representatives’ demands for quite a long time,” said Kohli, adding that the state government should provide adequate rights and resources to the members in line with the spirit of local self-governance. “Due to the non-formation of the District Planning Committee, development work in rural areas is being affected and the development plans of the rural body representatives are hanging in the balance,” he further said.
They moreover demanded that the proposals passed by the District Planning Committee for the financial year 2026-27 be reviewed after the new District Planning Committee is formed. Another demand was for extending the period for reservation-related changes in the panchayats from the current five years to ten years.
The delegation also demanded the initiation of the process of transferring 29 subjects to the panchayats under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, stating that until the panchayats gain real authority, the overall development of villages is impossible. The memorandum also demanded the establishment of a panchayat welfare fund and the provision of Rs10 lakh assistance to the family of any district panchayat member in the event of an untoward incident.
The district panchayat members demanded the limit for works worth up to Rs 2.5 lakh be raised to Rs 5 lakh. They also demanded that the honorarium of the district panchayat members be increased to at least Rs 30,000 per month and that a district panchayat fund be set up for each district panchayat member similar to the MLA fund.
Kohli further said that the continued apathy regarding village development through the representative rural bodies has sparked anger among the villagers, too.
