With the administration all set to launch the second phase of 'back to village' programme, the Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Sunday termed the campaign as a futile exercise, leading to avoidable wasteful expenditure.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said there are no takers for this campaign in the wake of severe criticism by the Panchayati Raj Institutions as the first such exercise remained fruitless and without any results.
On the eve of the "Back to Village-2" (B2V2) programme commencement on Monday, a senior government official asserted that its fundamental objective is to empower and develop Panchayats. The programme is scheduled to end on November 30
The first phase of the first-of-its-kind initiative to reach out to the people at the grassroots level was last held from June 20 to 27 across 4,483 panchayats, which witnessed tremendous response from the public. The ground reports suggest that there is no developmental activity in the villages as there were no funds with panchayats since their constitution a year ago, Sharma said.
The centre and state administration in general and BJP leaders in particular, however, are issuing regular statements of large flow of funds to panchyats and massive developments at grass root levels which adds salt to the wounds of people, said Sharma.
The Congress leader dared the government to send the same set of officials to the same panchayats as per the first exercise of back-to-village and then see the reaction and anger of people in most places.
The people have been facing lot of hardships for the past over five years as the previous coalition government, especially MLAs, took over the rights of panchayats and exercised those rights including utilising MGNREGA funds as per their own whims and fancies, leaving an unpaid liability of around Rs 800 crores. The government should first clear that liability and make pending payments to job card holders who are entitled to have it in 15 days but waiting for years, Sharma said.
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