Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Mar 29: The members of the District Development Council (DDC), Pulwama in South Kashmir today said that the Panchayati Raj System was not being implemented in Kashmir as it should be while alleging that the elected members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions were not being involved in the process of development in their respective district by the officers in the system.
During a press conference, which was attended by the DDC Chairman, Pulwama, Syed Bari Andrabi, Vice-Chairman Mukhtar Ahmad Bandh and other BDC members of the district, the members alleged that the DDC councils across Kashmir along with other functionaries were being side-lined from the system.
The DDC Chairman, Pulwama, Syed Bari Andrabi said the DDCs have not been integrated with the system and that despite the passage of time, the Panchayati Raj Act has not been implemented in letter and spirit.
“There are 3-Tiers of the Panchayati Raj Act which include Panch, Sarpanch, BDC and DDC; but all three have not been integrated with the system despite the passage of more than one year now,” he said
Andrabi said that these 3-Tiers as per the Act have to carry out the monitoring and the implementation of the plans in their respective districts.
“But almost all the DDCs, BDCs across Kashmir stand sidelined; they are not kept in the loop; they do not know where from the funds come and where they go,” he alleged.
The members said that while the Panchayati Raj system is being implemented, the same, they said is being done by keeping the elected representatives at a distance. “No matter the system is being implemented, the elected people are not part of that process at all,” the members said.
They said that for the approvals, procedures of the plans, the functioning of the councils across Kashmir are being sabotaged as well as bypassed.
Andrabi said that the elected representatives are empowered by the law to work for the betterment of the districts, which he said, is not being adhered to when it comes to the developmental works across Kashmir districts.
“If the Government wants the Panchayati Raj Act to be implemented in a better way, then the councils should be allowed to work freely in accordance with the law. It should be like, we are making the plans and we are implementing the same because we are representing the aspirations of people. As of now, the scenario is different,” the members said.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel