Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Mar 13: Taking a serious note of changing of village road alignment to benefit a single house on the cost of nearly 30 families, who are being deprived road facilities, the residents of Panchyat Damlar in block Mahanpur held a protest against the concerned Department.
The residents led by Sarpanch, Sher Singh of Dhamlar Panchayat assembled on the road and held a protest taking serious note of changing the alignment of the road under the pressure of a local leader while ignoring the rules and regulations and giving undue benefits to the influential political person. They alleged that the alignment of road has been changed to benefit one house and thereby damaging the forest land without obtaining any permission from Forest Department.
The protestors said JCB has also been used for construction of tractor road which has been sanctioned under MGNREGA to benefit the workers of the area.
The Sarpanch Sher Singh , Panch Makhan Din, Kartar Singh, Sushant Sharma, Nasib Singh, and Gunn Ram said that a tractor road from Mugati WNo1 via Khal to Panchayat Damlar nearly four to five kms with estimated cost of Rs 7,50,000 to be constructed under CD Panchyat funds and MGNREGA was finalized in Panchayat resolution two months earlier. The work was allotted to a local contractor Abhi Mohd . He deliberately delayed the work and started it yesterday night by putting a JCB on job without any information to concerned Department and Panchayat members. Not even that the contractor also changed the alignment of road in violation of approval given by Rural Development Department while depriving a thick population of village Khal and Tutu. The MGNREGA workers were not given the job and JCB put on job after making the local laborers unemployed in violation of labour law.
After getting the information the field staff of Rural Development Department including Junior Engineer, Gram Sewak reached on the spot and stopped the work.
The villagers asked the Department to immediately stop the work and demanded the job under MGNREGA for local laborers and removing of the JCB from the area. They also demanded an enquiry into the matter.
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