Sarpanches marching to gherao Haryana Vidhan Sabha stopped at Chandigarh-Panchkula border
The sarpanches had planned to gherao the Haryana assembly to register their complaint against state government’s decision to award tenders for village development works through electronic mode.
Hundreds of sarpanches, who were on their way to gherao the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, amid the second leg of the budget session, were stopped on the Panchkula-Chandigarh border on Friday afternoon.
The sarpanches had planned to gherao the assembly to register their complaint against state government’s e-tendering policy.
As per a draft of Haryana Panchayati Raj Finance, Budget, Accounts, Audit, Taxation and Works (Amendment) Rules, 2023, which was put in the public domain for suggestions and objections on February 7, village panchayats could only get works costing ₹2 lakh or less on quotation basis without going through the e-tendering process. Earlier this week, in a bid to buy peace, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced to increase the proposed financial limit for development works on e-tendering basis from ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh.
The sarpanches, however, were not convinced. They said the CM’s announcement was an attempt to “mislead them” and stated that one can barely carry out any development work with ₹5 lakh.
After laying siege to the road leading from Panchkula to Chandigarh for around two hours, the sarpanches returned while giving the government five days to meet their demands.
Earlier too, the sarpanches had blocked the Chandigarh-Panchkula border after they were stopped from entering the city, but were removed on March 4 on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court, which was hearing a public interest litigation by two residents.
The court had also sought a standard operating procedure (SOP) from the Panchkula administration against road blockades by protesters.
