State sarpanches to hold dharnas from Monday

Tribune News Service

Hisar, August 4

Setting the stage for confrontation with the government, the sarpanches of the entire state have announced to start indefinite dharnas in all district headquarters in support of their demands from Monday.

The Haryana Sarpanches Association, led by Satpal Singh of Jhajjar district, alleged that the autonomy of the sarpanches, which was a key element of the Panchayati Raj institutions, had got eroded in the last couple of years. They demanded that the state government should immediately fulfil their demands.

The sarpanch of Depal village of the district, Ashok Kumar, who presided over the meeting, said they had discussed various issues which were responsible for creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the elected gram panchayats.

They opposed the state government’s directions to purchase construction material from one agency, terming the directions as Tuglaki. “The autonomy and the powers conferred to the sarpanches as per the Panchayati Raj Act have been diluted on the pretext of checking corruption. This is nothing but an attempt to scuttle the functioning and autonomy of the sarpanches who are elected after the freshly introduced provision like minimum education qualifications by the state government,” Ashok Kumar said.

They demanded a fresh survey of the below the poverty line (BPL) people, as it has been around a decade when the previous survey was conducted in the state. “A large number of eligible families are not included in the list, while there are many families which have become ineligible due to their improved economic status,” the sarpanches added.

Manoj Sharma, sarpanch of Dhandur village, said they had also raised the issue of extending the “Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojna” to the rural segment on the lines of the urban areas. Besides, they demanded that the sarpanches should be given honorarium of Rs 30,000 and the panches Rs 5,000 each in view of their nature of job and responsibilities.

Some of the sarpanches also objected to their suspension, alleging that they were at the whims and fancies of ministers at times. “There have been instances when ministers have suspended sarpanches due to extraneous reasons,” sarpanches said.

Manoj Sharma said the sarpanches across the state would start dharna at the mini-secretariats in their respective districts from Monday (August 6). Their further strategy would be chalked later in view of the stand of the state government towards their demands, he added.