Cutting across party lines, all PRIs voiced solidarity in their protest in a Press conference
Mayabunder, October 8: All 37 Panchayats of Middle & North Andaman have raised an alarm, accusing the Andaman & Nicobar administration of snatching away the rights and powers of the Panchayats and making them helpless. There is a strong outcry being heard against the administration among all the Panchayati Raj members; Pradhan, Panchayat Samiti and elected Zila Parishad representatives.
A press conference was called last Friday in the community hall of Mayabunder on behalf of all the public representatives, rising above the party line and expressed their views. As a spokesperson of the aggrieved PRIs, the Pahalgaon Panchayat Pradhan, Shivanand Bairagi said that the Administration has snatched away the rights and powers of the Panchayat institutions and made them dependent. Today the situation is such that they cannot complete their area's development works. People's aspirations are being hurt and Panchayat representatives are made incapable. The Administration has taken all the rights into their hands and the public is a victim of their arbitrariness. The villagers are troubled by the bad condition of roads, poor health system, drinking water crisis and poor electricity supply, and the public representatives are bound to watch helplessly with pain.
Shri Shivanand Bairagi said that under the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution and clause 11-243G, Panchayats were given special rights and powers to give basic strength to democracy at the grass root level in the country envisioning the realisation of the dream of Mahatma Gandhi, but the Administration in the islands has been depriving the Panchayats of these rights since 2012. It has been 18 months since the last Panchayat elections, but development work is not being done in the villages. The financial powers of Pradhan, Pramukh and Zilla Parishad Chairman have been greatly limited, making them weak. Babus have become the policy makers, holding all the powers in their hands. The power of democracy is being made a mockery of by bringing Pradhan under the control of Block Development Officer-BDO. For every work, Pradhan is dependent on the mercy of the Babus of the Rural Development Department. The poor people of the villages are suffering at the hands of red tape and dictatorial bureaucracy, he said.
“The representatives of Panchayati Raj are forced to take this step”, said Shri Shivanand Bairagi. Alerting caution to the Administration, he said that a non-political organization, involving all the Panchayati Raj Institutions of North & Middle Andaman is being formed, which will take up these demands at the highest level. Panchayats of South Andaman are also joining their organization. Overall, it can be said that the elected public representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions of the entire Andaman & Nicobar are rising above the party ideology and are fully mobilized and standing strongly in support of their genuine demands of rights, which have been defined by the constitution of the country.
This means that the entire people of Andaman & Nicobar are with them and the Administration will have to give up its dictatorship, bow down and work in the people's interest. Bairagi said that his first responsibility entrusted is to his people, who have elected him. All Panchayat representatives are ready to go to any level in the public interest. They will continue to express their protest by boycotting all government programs until their demands are met.
In the press conference, Pradhans, Panchayat Samiti members and Zilla Parishad members belonging to Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and other political parties of all the Panchayats of North & Middle Andaman unanimously expressed their support for these demands.