Pathwal Panchs sit on fast unto death for justice

Panchs sitting on fast unto death at BDO office Hiranagar in Kathua district.
Panchs sitting on fast unto death at BDO office Hiranagar in Kathua district.

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct 30: To get the justice under the Panchyati Raj Act, the majority of panchs of Panchayat Halqa Pathwal under Block Hiranagar have sat on fast unto death in the premises of Block Development Office Hiranagar in support of their demand to get floor test against the present Sarpanch Kaka Ram as per the provision of Panchyati Raj Act.
The fast unto death of Panch Suresh Kumar entered third day today while as ten other panchs including Panch Lal Singh, Bharat Bhushan, Neeraj Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, Srishta Devi, Nasir Chand, Manju Devi, Asha Rani and Narayan Dutt sat in support of Panch Suresh Kumar.
Panch Suresh Kumar said that they are forced to sit on fast unto death by present administration as it fails to give them the justice under the three tier Panchayati Raj Institution. He alleged that the present Sarapanch does not take the Panchyat members in confidence before taking any decision.
“We approached District Panchyat Officer Kathua to call floor test of the Sarpanch as per provision of Panchayati Raj Act. Consequently, the DPO Kathua issued order to Block Development Officer (BDO) Hiranagar vide order number DPO/K/2021-22/793-99 dated 15/6/2021 to submit the report of enquiry committee constituted in the matter. Acting on the report and provision of PRI Act , BDO Hiranagar wrote a letter to Chairman Block Development Council, Hiranagar, Ram Lal Kalia vide order number Bdo/Hrg/2021-22/594-598/ dated 30-9-2021 to call no confidence motion against the Sarpanch Kaka Ram within speculated time and period,” he added.
Suresh Kumar alleged that despite passing of one month against the required period of ten days to call the no confidence motion, the BDC Chairman Hiranagar did not call the no confidence motion with reasons best known to him and thus, openly violated the Panchyat Raj Act and its guidelines. He said that when the elected representatives of Panchayat are failed to get justice under this regime, how a common man can think of getting justice.
The Panchs appealed the LG Manoj Sinha to constitute a high level committee to check the irregularities taken place in this matter which put a dent on three tier Panchyati Raj system.