Demokratic Front, Chandigarh /Kurukshetra – February 22 :
The Sarpanch Association of Haryana held a meeting today at Jat Dharamshala in Kurukshetra and warned the Haryana government that if their demands are not met, the CM House will be gheraoed on March 1 and a massive protest will be held in Panchkula on the lines of the Kisan Andolan. President of the Sarpanch Association, Ranbir Samain said that the state government was not paying attention to the villages. That’s why from tomorrow we will not allow any representative of JJP and BJP to enter the villages in rural Haryana.
Expressing objection to e-tendering, demand for family identity cards and Right to Recall rule, the association said that these things are causing problems to the people of the state. The rule of Right to Recall should be applicable to MPs and MLAs before it is applied to Sarpanchs. Their demand is that all the 29 rights extended to the village panchayats in the 11th schedule of the 73rd amendment of the Constitution should be implemented. With the abolition of the rights of the Gram Sabha, the importance of the Panchayats will end. That’s why the contractual practice should not be implemented again.
Samain said that the rule of online attendance of MNREGA is also creating trouble, because the mobile network does not support in many places. 90 MLAs of the state are elected by rural votes only, but they remain absent when the villagers need them most. There was an unanimous voice in the meeting that the government should give back the rights of the Sarpanchs. Among their demands, the salary of sarpanches is advised to raise to Rs 30,000, panchs to Rs 5000 and MNREGA payment to Rs 600 per day.
Those present in the meeting included Santosh Beniwal (Vice President), Isham Singh (General Secretary), Ashish, Ravinder Kajal, Rakesh (IT Cell Head), Sandeep Gulia (Member), Narendra Kadyan, Chunni Lal (Treasurer), Ashish Kalwash, Nirbhay Kala, Sonu Dhakla, Sanjay Kuwari, Arif Hathodi (Press Spokesperson), Parveen, Ram Chandar, Manoj, Ajit Singh, Surajpal, Sundar Lal, Neeraj Sharma, Sumer Dahiya, Mukesh, Chander Mohan Potalia and Sandeep.
