Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU July 9: National Conference on Saturday expressed grave concern over the amendment to the Panchayati Raj Act 1989 and urged the Governor N N Vohra to withhold his assent to the legislation for the larger interests of the people and the State.
In a memorandum to the Governor, submitted through Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, the National Conference feared that the amendment shall trample the spirit of people being real masters of their destiny, as the indirect mode of electing Sarpanchs amounts to murder of democracy.
The memorandum was submitted by District president Urban Jammu, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal after the party workers took out a protest march from Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan.
“We understand that the amendment will lead to weakening of the Panchayati Raj System, as introduction of indirect process of elections of Sarpanchs will open window for coercion, corruption and malpractices to manipulate these elections. The measure has far-reaching consequences and shall eventually discredit and weaken the Panchayati Raj System in the State” the memorandum stated.
It added, “this amendment will wash away and undo the entire process carried out to make small administrative units by the Government led by Omar Abdullah in 2014 with an avowed objective of taking administration at the door steps of people and also empowering them by directly participating in decision making”.
Prominent among those, who participated the protest march, included Satpal Lakhotra Ex-MLA, Bimla Luthra Ex-MLA , Satwant Kour Dogra , KD Singh, Vijay Lochan, Abdul Gani Teli, Ch Akhtar, Ashok Dogra , Subash Bagat , Dr Tara Chand , Sanjay Gupta, S S Bunty, Rakesh Singh Raka , DC Sucha Singh , Sambir Samyal , Vivek Gupta, Rohit Bali, Dilshad Begum, Veena Oberio, Asha Mehra , Komal Manhas , Anju Grover, Reeta Gupta, Rekha Manhas , Som Raj Taroh, DS Kurana, Vijay Gupta and others.
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