Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 18: In a bid to give new impetus to its ongoing struggle for empowerment of the Panchayats, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) has announced to start massive campaign at district and block levels to highlight the failure of State Government in devolving powers to grassroots level institutions.
The conference has decided to start its campaign from 10 districts of Kashmir valley where the senior leaders of AJKPC would interact and hold meetings with the elected Panchs and Sarpanchs and create awareness among them about their democratic rights which had been denied by the ruling National Conference since the Panchayat elections in June 2011. It was decided in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Anil Sharma, general secretary of the conference.
“The State Government, particularly ruling National Conference has been creating obstacles in empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Jammu and Kashmir. The tall claims of the ruling party vis-a-vis devolution of powers of 14 Government Departments to elected Panchayat members are far from truth,” Sharma said while addressing the meeting.
The AJKPC leader also took on the State Government for delay in releasing the payments of the poor people who had worked under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Imtyaz Afzal Beig, provincial president of AJKPC, Kashmir said that “the ruling party is the main culprit in disempowering the Panchayats and it will have to pay the price for it near future,” Beig said.
Ghulam Hassan Panzoo, spokesperson AJKPC appealed the Panchs and Sarpanchs to get united and fight against the authoritarian attitude of the State Government.
Bashir Ahmad Malik, provincial secretary Kashmir said the National Conference had always cheated the rural masses and it had done nothing to empower democratic institutions.
Prominent among those who were present in the meeting included Among Mohammad Fayaz Ahamd Khandey, Amin Parray, Mohammad Shafi Mir and Ghulam Ahmad Lone.
Follow our WhatsApp channel