SILIGURI, 2 NOV: Several political parties, including the CPI-M and the CPRM, said a panchayat election in the Hills should be held simultaneously along with the rest of the state in the interest of the people of the Darjeeling Hills.
Another Hill-based party, the AIGL, said it would support the demand if the existing two-tier panchayat body is made a three-tier one.
The former state urban development minister, senior CPI-M leader Asok Bhattacharya, said the state is free to conduct rural polls in the Hills along with the rest of the state.
“The panchayat election is an imperative now in the Hills because the last such polls were held around 13 years ago. However, the state cannot advance the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad election this way. The rural poll under the SMP will be held only after the next Parliamentary election,” he said.
Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the GJMM’s media secretary, said: “I am personally in favour of simultaneous rural polls in the Hills along with the rest of the state. It is true people across the rural belt in the Hills are suffering in the absence of the representative rural bodies for a long time. There is no pradhan, no job assistant in the gram panchayat office.
“People under gram panchayat areas are being deprived of Central assistance. The 100-day job guarantee programme under NREGA has remained in a limbo. However, I do not know the stance my party would take on the matter,” he said.
The State Election Commissioner, Ms Meera Pandey, yesterday convened a meeting with all the district magistrates on the panchayat elections. Administrative officials did not though divulge details about the outcome of the meeting.
The president of the Hill-based Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) R B Rai said: “Panchayat elections in the Hills should be advanced so as to speed development in the rural belt of the Hills. But the question for the Opposition is ~ is the ground situation conducive for free and fair rural body elections? Besides, the matter over the rural body structure as to whether it would be two-tier or three-tier being sub judice, it is unlikely that the elections will be advanced here,” he said.
All India Gorkha League Vice-President Laxman Pradhan said his party would support such a demand only if the state agrees to hold polls for three-tier panchayat under the GTA. “We would support it only if this condition is fulfilled,” he added.
A senior administrative official associated with the panchayat department said the state government is likely to conduct the rural polls in the Hills separately after completion of rural polls in the state.
A resolution was recently adopted on behalf of the GTA to conduct three-tier rural polls in the Hills and was sent to the state government.
Another Hill-based party, the AIGL, said it would support the demand if the existing two-tier panchayat body is made a three-tier one.
The former state urban development minister, senior CPI-M leader Asok Bhattacharya, said the state is free to conduct rural polls in the Hills along with the rest of the state.
“The panchayat election is an imperative now in the Hills because the last such polls were held around 13 years ago. However, the state cannot advance the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad election this way. The rural poll under the SMP will be held only after the next Parliamentary election,” he said.
Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the GJMM’s media secretary, said: “I am personally in favour of simultaneous rural polls in the Hills along with the rest of the state. It is true people across the rural belt in the Hills are suffering in the absence of the representative rural bodies for a long time. There is no pradhan, no job assistant in the gram panchayat office.
“People under gram panchayat areas are being deprived of Central assistance. The 100-day job guarantee programme under NREGA has remained in a limbo. However, I do not know the stance my party would take on the matter,” he said.
The State Election Commissioner, Ms Meera Pandey, yesterday convened a meeting with all the district magistrates on the panchayat elections. Administrative officials did not though divulge details about the outcome of the meeting.
The president of the Hill-based Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) R B Rai said: “Panchayat elections in the Hills should be advanced so as to speed development in the rural belt of the Hills. But the question for the Opposition is ~ is the ground situation conducive for free and fair rural body elections? Besides, the matter over the rural body structure as to whether it would be two-tier or three-tier being sub judice, it is unlikely that the elections will be advanced here,” he said.
All India Gorkha League Vice-President Laxman Pradhan said his party would support such a demand only if the state agrees to hold polls for three-tier panchayat under the GTA. “We would support it only if this condition is fulfilled,” he added.
A senior administrative official associated with the panchayat department said the state government is likely to conduct the rural polls in the Hills separately after completion of rural polls in the state.
A resolution was recently adopted on behalf of the GTA to conduct three-tier rural polls in the Hills and was sent to the state government.
statesman news service
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