Cong stages protest against expansion of urban local bodies

A number of Congress leaders participated in a demonstration staged by the party on Monday against the allegedly arbitrary delimination urban local bodies in the State. Headed by the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh, the Congress leaders and party workers gathered outside the Gandhi Park where they raised slogans against the State Government for taking the decision to expand limits of urban local bodies to include rural areas under Gram Panchayats.

Addressing the gathering of party members participating in the protest, PCC president Pritam Singh said that the Uttarakhand Government had issued a dictatorial order to extend the boundaries of urban local bodies across the state. He said that such arbitrary expansion of urban local body areas is not logical. Along with the public of the State, the Congress party also strongly objects to this decision, he stressed.

Singh said that the intention of the state government was questionable when one considers its decision to expand the areas under urban local bodies in Uttarakhand. He alleged that under the pretext of area expansion, the government actually intends to do away with the agricultural land in rural areas. By expanding the urban local bodies in this manner, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state is also pushing Panchayats towards extinction.

The PCC chief further pointed out that the rural areas which had been merged into urban local body areas in the past are still marked by stark absence of even basic facilities. He said, “Before going about expanding the areas under urban local bodies, the state government should first ensure that at least the basic facilities are provided in areas which were merged into urban local bodies in the past. Only after this is done should any area expansion be undertaken again. Before taking the anti-public decision of expanding the areas under urban local bodies, the State Government did not bother to seek the approval of either the local residents or the three-tier Panchayat representatives. Expanding the area under urban local bodies despite the strong opposition of the local public and public representatives only highlights the anti-public policies being pursued by the BJP State Government. In the past when rural areas were merged into urban local bodies during expansion of municipal areas, the agricultural land was done away with in such areas.

Similarly, once again the remaining agricultural lands in rural to be merged into urban local bodies are under threat from the area expansion decision taken by the state government.The Congress party strongly objects to this decision,” stressed the PCC president.

Speaking on the occasion, the protest coordinator and former cabinet minister Mantri Prasad Naithani also said that the Congress strongly opposes this anti-public decision of the state government. He further said that the Congress party had always taken the people into confidence while taking such decisions. The State Government is conspiring to end the existence of Panchayats in the state, he further alleged.

The PCC as planned a series of protests on this issue till December 30. After the protest in Dehradun on Monday, the Congress members will protest in the provisional state capital and other places across the state by burning the State Government in effigy on Tuesday. The party will also continue its protest demonstration outside the Gandhi Park on December 27, 28, 29 and 30.

Former State ministers Dinesh Agrawal, Rajendra Singh Bhandari, PCC vice president Suryakant Dhasmana, Congress Mahanagar head Prithviraj Chauhan and other party leaders were also among those present in the demonstration.