The Hindu : Abolition of districts draws flak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 15, 2004

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Other States - Uttar Pradesh

Abolition of districts draws flak

By J P Shukla

LUCKNOW, JAN. 14. The Uttar Pradesh Government's decision to disband the administrative units created during the earlier regime of Mayawati has invited series of protests in affected regions as Opposition parties got prepared to make it an issue during the Lok Sabha elections. In some of the affected districts even the Samajwadi Party leaders questioned the rationale behind the decision fearing that the Opposition had been given an unnecessary handle to beat the Government with.

While announcing the decision to abolish four administrative divisions and nine districts on Tuesday, the Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had said that this was mainly to avoid the huge expenditure the Government was to suffer on account of the new units. The Opposition, however, felt that the logic was untenable as the decision was selective and faulty. The Samajwadi Party Government had deliberately decided to retain the districts of Kannauj, Balrampur, Mahoba and Baghpat for political reasons while disbanding other districts. If the abolition of the nine districts was done for financial reasons these four districts should also have been abolished, the Opposition argued.

The UP BSP President, Barkhu Ram Verma, reacting sharply to the Government move said it was sheer madness to take such an irrational decision. The new administrative units had been created to remove the regional imbalances in the development of the State. The Mulayam Singh Government had only exposed its bankruptcy of mind by disbanding the districts, he added.

The BJP leaders Vinay Katiyar and Lalji Tandon felt that reverting decisions of a previous Government like this was against the normal democratic practice. The State Congress President, Jagdambika Pal, said the Government should have taken all the factors into account before taking such a drastic action.

The restructuring has naturally affected the interests of various classes in the affected areas and that led to natural jubilations and protests by people in different cases. In Auraiya, the Samajwadi Party workers rejoiced the decision while those belonging to the BSP and BJP said it was an injustice to the people of Auraiya.

The BJP legislator from Bhinga which was earlier the headquarter of the Shravasti district announced his decision to resign his Assembly seat in protest against the injustice caused to the people of his constituency.

The people at Bahraich to which the disbanded district has been merged, however, celebrated the decision by fire works. Reports of spontaneous protests by people who blocked roads and burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister at some places also came from Basti,Gonda, Faizabad, Moradabad and Gorakhpur districts where some of the now abolished district units were located.

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Abolition of districts draws flak