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Haryana minister Babli faces newly elected sarpanches’ protest
The protesting village representatives also raised slogans against minister Devender Singh Babli and accused the BJP-JJP government of curtailing their spending power
Accusing the Haryana government of curtailing spending powers of village councils by carrying out development works through e-tendering, a group of newly elected sarpanches walked out of the ‘Jan Pratinidhi Samwad’ programme held in Hisar on Sunday, where development and panchayats minister Devender Singh Babli was interacting with elected representatives of village, block samitis and zila parishads.
The protesting village representatives also raised slogans against Babli and accused the BJP-JJP government of curtailing their spending power and bringing in the right to recall, where the villagers can ask for re-election if they are not happy with the functioning of the sarpanch.
The sarpanches also demanded ₹25,000 per month salary till their tenure.
Babli, meanwhile, said the e-tendering process was introduced to eliminate corruption and ensure timely completion of development works.
“Our government has decided to build gyms, digital libraries, install streetlights and CCTV cameras besides door-to-door garbage collection in every village. Some elected representatives are saying that they have invested a lot in sarpanch elections, but it does not mean that the government will give them authority to indulge in corruption to recover their money,” he added.
The minister further said that all development works will be completed through e-tendering process, which the sarpanches will monitor.
“ Either the protesting people are misled or pitted by the opposition against the government,” he added.
Babli has faced similar protests in Sonepat, Jind and Kaithal. Later in Fatehabad, the minister said that lights and CCTV cameras will be installed on the ‘phirnis’ of all villages across the state.
In Fatehabad, he said there would be no shortage of funds for the development works of the villages.
“The gram panchayats should pass proposals for the development of villages and send them to the department. Even if the development works ranging from ₹1 to ₹100 crore in villages are done through e-tender, all of them will be under the supervision of the sarpanches,” he added.
Babli further said that women have been given 50% reservation in the panchayats of the state, which was an example of their empowerment given by the Haryana government.
“An amount of ₹18,000 crore will be spent by the government to overcome the problem of waterlogging,” he added.
