Sarpanchs stall irrigation schemes with boycott of committee meetings

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Sarpanch Sangh on Monday boycotted the meetings of the special general body of 352 panchayat samitis (committees) in the state. Due to the boycott by the sarpanchs, the annual plan for the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and of the Rajiv Gandhi Jal Sanchay Yojana could not be approved, said spokesperson of the sangh, Rafique Pathan.
Sangh president Banshidhar Garhwal said the state government had been weakening panchayati raj institutions for the past three years. “First, the government did not conduct elections for panchayati raj institutions on time. Administrative powers of elected representatives were weakened by officers who were appointed as administrators,” said Garhwal.
“Grants received from the central government in the past three years were not given to panchayati raj institutions in time, creating a huge obstacle in meeting the basic needs of 70% of the population of the state,” he added.
According to the sangh, people’s representatives in rural areas do not even have funds for providing drinking water supply connections and payment of electricity bills of their offices.
More than 11,000 sarpanchs will gherao the chief minister’s residence in Jaipur on May 15 to protest against the delay in releasing development grants for villages amounting to Rs 4,033 crore.