Shadow Correspondent
JAMMU, June 9
All Jammu Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) on Sunday declared that around 45,000 elected Sarpanches and Panches across the state will boycott Assembly elections if the Centre and the state government do not empower Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) before that.
The AJKPC, the frontline body of elected Panchayat members in the state, also demanded that the Assembly polls in J&K should be deferred till the Panchayats are not empowered fully.
Hundreds of elected Panchayat members from various districts of Jammu region under the leadership of Anil Sharma, state president AJKPC assembled at Dogra Chowk here and staged a noisy demonstration against the Centre and the state administration for their failure of incorporate 73rd Amendment of Indian Constitution in the J&K Panchayati Raj Act 1989 in toto.
The protesting Sarpanches and Panches raised slogans against the state administration and demanded fulfilment of their demands without any delay. The protestors also took out a rally and blocked Tawi bridges that disrupted the traffic for quite some time.
The protestors said that the state’s political class lacks will and determination to empower the Panchayati Raj system. The Centre should continue the President’s Rule and take all necessary measures to fully empower the PRIs in the state.
“We appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Centre and the state administration that they should defer the Assembly polls till the PRIs in the state are fully empowered. All the 45,000 Sarpanches and Panches will boycott the Assembly elections if these are held without empowering the PRIs in J&K,” Anil Sharma, state president AJKPC said while addressing the protestors.
Sharma demanded, “The state administration should immediately constitute Block Development Councils (BDCs) and District Development Planning Boards (DDPBs) to establish three-tier Panchayati Raj system in the state. All the provisions of 73rdAmendment should be extended to J&K in toto to have separate finance and election commissions for Panchayats in the state”.The AJKPC leader also demanded that the Centre and the state administration should devise a mechanism under which the Sarpanches and Panches are paid monthly salary rather than honorarium. “Each Sarpanch should be paid a monthly salary of Rs 25,000 while an amount of Rs 10,000 be paid to each Panch every month so that they are able to smoothly carry out their activities in their respective Panchayats,” Sharma said. He also said the elected Panchayat members should be paid an amount of Rs 25 Lac per annum to each Sarpanch on the pattern of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) being given to each MLAs which will make them able to carry out development activities without any hindrances.
The AJKPC chief also demanded that the funds of 14th Finance Commission should be released and expended on the recommendations of Gram Sabha to ensure transparency and accountability in the system.
