Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Bijay Patnaik extended his party’s support to the agitation of sarpanchs and came down heavily on the Odisha government for undermining panchayati raj institutions.
Patnaik met the sarpanchs and panchayat samiti members, who have been sitting on dharna at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar in support of their demands including adequate salary, allowances and pension, freedom to work, exercising their powers independently and stopping interference of the officials.
The Congress leader discussed their demands and assured his party’s total support to them. Condemning the indifference of the government towards panchayat members, he said the three-tier panchayati raj system has been totally ignored in the state under the BJD rule.
“During the Congress rule, 73rd amendment of the Constitution was brough to assign adequate powers and responsibilities to function as autonomous bodies. The administration from the grassroots level was decentralised through funds, functions and functionaries to the panchayats. But the BJD government, during its long tenure, has centralised all the powers in itself,” said Patnaik.
Alleging that that present government wanted to run the state administration through secretaries, SPs, collectors, BDOs and other officials, the Congress leader said the new formula is not only anti-people but also anti-Constitution.
Stating that this style of functioning by the government posed threat to democracy, he called for a change in government to protect the democratic institutions.
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