The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Panchayat Raj staff threaten agitation

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Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Panchayat Raj staff threaten agitation

Staff Reporter

Among the chamber's demands are scrapping of the District Development Review Committees and making the ZP chairman in a districts to have control over District Rural Development Agencies More powers for local bodies sought

HYDERABAD: The State committee of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Chamber which met here on Monday is chalking out an action plan to launch an agitation and focus attention on their long-pending demand of devolution of powers to local bodies.

The chamber comprises organisations representing the interests of sarpanches, mandal and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency members (MPTC & ZPTC).

Speakers at the day-long meeting here regretted that attempts over the past decade and more had ended up in nought and said they would announce their agitational plan on Tuesday.

`No choice'

The chamber president, Y. Babu Rajendra Prasad, said they had waited long enough and successive Governments had not given them their due.

"We have no choice except to agitate," he said, adding that with each passing day the Government was bestowing MLAs more and more powers.

Demands

Among the chamber's demands were scrapping of the District Development Review Committees and making the Zilla Parishad chairman in a district to have control over District Rural Development Agencies and preside over meetings. They pointed out that powers to allocate Rural Roads Maintenance grants and funds pertaining to mandal and zilla parishads too had been handed over to MLAs.

"This Government has let us down. Before he became the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy promised that the file pertaining to giving local bodies more powers would be the first that he would sign.

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