"We welcome Congress's stand on Panchayat empowerment. Congress, which is a partner in the coalition government in the state, has cleared its stand by adopting a resolution in favour of empowerment Panchayats," Shafiq Mir, Convener of JKPC said today.
Mir said the National Conference (NC) would pay a price for being a hurdle in empowering Panchayats.
Asking opposition party of the state, PDP to support the empowerment of Panchayats, Mir said it should bring a resolution on the issue in the coming Assembly session if it is sincere in this regard.
Mir said JKPC would launch state wide agitation soon if Panchayats were not empowered at par with other states of the country, adding, the only way to do this was by extension of 73rd amendment in the state.
Congress had on Saturday passed a resolution, moved by Union Minister for Health Gulam Nabi Azad and seconded by Congress State Chief Saif-uddin-Soz, asking the government to implement 73rd and 74th Amendment of Pachayat Raj Act to empower panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir.