Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

Collector's notice to tribal sarpanch draws protests

Staff Reporter

Scheduled Areas PRI Functionaries Forum threaten agitation

ELURU: The West Godavari district Collector Lav Agarwal's action of serving a notice on a tribal sarpanch seeking his suspension for a period of three months is likely to snowball into a controversy.

The Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas PRI Functionaries Forum took strong exception over the Collector's action.

The forum spokesperson, T. Trinadha Rao, said it was decided to launch an agitation if the Collector failed to withdraw his notice, which was against the spirit of autonomy granted to Panchayat Raj Institutions by the Constitution through the 73rd and 74th amendments.

Mr Agarwal served a notice on the sarpanch of Darbhagudem village in the agency of West Godavari district, Korsa Hanumanth, recently asking why he could not be placed under suspension for creating `law and problem' by allegedly interfering with the land disputes between tribals and non-tribals in his gram panchayat.

The sarpanch sought to settle the land disputes by summoning all the 47 non-tribal occupants to a gram sabha convened by him last month, which was viewed as illegal by the Collector.

After this, the tribal sarpanch received a fresh notice from the District Panchayat Officer, L. Sridhar Reddy, on Thursday seeking to know as to why the drawal of funds sanctioned under the Swarna Jayanti Rojgar Yojana (SJRY) and Swaraj Gram Rojgar Yojana (SGRY) by his gram panchayat be freezed for his action.

The DPO also reportedly informed in the notice that the Chintalapudi Sub Treasury Officer was requested not to honour the cheques issued by the tribal sarpanch without a countersign by the Jeelugumilli Mandal Extension Officer (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development).

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Collector's notice to tribal sarpanch draws protests

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