Chandigarh: Efforts made in the direction of “good governance” can sometimes backfire. This is exactly what is happening with the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana ever since it launched e-tendering for development works by Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
This decision was taken in February 2021 when the state government Revised Rule 134 under the Panchayati Raj Act, and said that development works above Rs 5 lakh were to be done through the e-tendering process. the amount has been further reduced 2 lakh since then Rs.,
However, things came to a head only in late 2022, as the tenure of the panchayats ended in February 2021 itself. Fresh panchayat elections were held in October-November 2022 and the results came. announced On 27 November.
After this decision, the sarpanches have started protesting. The government argues that earlier under Rule 134, Panchayati Raj Institutions could allot any development work to anyone without issuing tenders and this encouraged corruption.
But the sarpanch is alleging that this takes away their rights as all the development works are done through government officials.
Haryana’s panchayat minister and BJP’s ally Devendra Singh Babli of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) added fuel to the fire last week. saying Only he ‘gone cartoon‘ (Spent forces) agitating against the verdict.
earlier on 18 DecemberBabli was not allowed to speak at a program in her home district Fatehabad amid protests by sarpanchs. He had gone there to address the elected representatives of PRI but the angry sarpanchs did not allow him to speak.
Now sarpanches across the state have threatened to protest against him in his home constituency Tohana, when he is scheduled to visit on January 15. They are also planning their state level meeting there.
In the past few months, they have held protests in Hisar, Karnal, Sonipat and Panipat.
Read also: Why are Haryana’s sugarcane farmers threatening to stir up agitation over the support price?
‘Khattar government does not trust panchayats’
Raising the issue of the agitators, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the government has no faith even in the elected representatives.
“The distrust of the elected representatives of the Khattar government can be gauged from the fact that it delayed the first panchayat elections by more than a year. Now, when there are panchayats, it doesn’t trust them,” Hooda told ThePrint on Thursday.
He questioned that if the government wanted to take away the powers of the elected representatives, then why conduct elections.
The issue came up in the three-day winter session of the state assembly beginning on December 26, 2022, where Opposition reminded the government In its 2017 decision when the financial limit for works to be executed by panchayats was raised from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. He asked why the power of Sarpanchs has now been reduced from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
In further embarrassment to the BJP-led government, a legislator from coalition partner JJP also questioned the logic behind the decision during the winter session. JJP’s Barwala MLA Jogi Ram Sihag asked Panchayat Minister Babli, who is also a party ally, to explain the “compelling reasons” due to which the state government reduced the financial limits of the works to be performed by panchayats.
In the name of e-tendering, the right of village panchayat sarpanches to do development works has been reduced from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Is this sarpanch corrupt? Instead of curtailing their powers, the government should have empowered the sarpanches,” said Sihag during the Zero Hour in the assembly. according to a report,
According to CM Khattar’s December 28 statement, works worth more than Rs 2 lakh will be done through tender on the Haryana Engineering Works Portal.
agitators ‘Ready for the long haul’
Meanwhile, the agitating sarpanch is in no mood to relent.
This has been said by quoting Narsingh Duhan, president of Sarpanch Sangh of Hisar district. in a report Said on Tuesday that he was not happy with the process of e-tendering. He said that the works done through e-tendering in the last two years were of poor quality and substandard material was used. He also alleged that e-tendering is a way of allotting work to contractors close to officials.
Isam Singh, president of the Nilokheri Sarpanch Association in Karnal district, told ThePrint on Thursday that e-tendering should be stopped or else the agitators are ready for a long agitation.
He said that earlier sarpanches had the right to do work up to Rs 20 lakh themselves. “This limit should have been reduced to Rs 30 lakh,” Singh said.
At the same time, the government has also put all its efforts on its part. Panchayat Minister Babli said that behind this movement are the same people who had embezzled government funds in the past.
Speaking to ThePrint on Thursday, Babli said, in the past, panchayats have reported spending Rs 25 lakh for work that could have easily been completed for Rs 10 lakh.
He said that under the new system, technical approval for works ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 25 lakh will be given only by the subdivisional officer and the sarpanch and chairman of the block committee and Zilla Parishad will be able to give administrative approval. For this.