NEW DELHI: Hundreds of residents from Delhi’s rural areas and neighbouring Haryana gathered at Jantar Mantar on Sunday to voice their frustration against the government’s alleged neglect of rural issues, including inadequate infrastructure, poor facilities, and lack of representation.
Chaudhary Surender Solanki, head of the Palam 360 Khap, led the protests. In his address, Solanki underscored rural communities’ crucial role in Delhi’s development while expressing frustration over their “current neglect”.”
“Delhi’s villages have neither become cities nor villages but resemble slum areas,” Solanki remarked, highlighting the deteriorating living conditions in rural areas. He warned that villagers would boycott the polls unless the government addressed their concerns before the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Criticising the government for its “unequal treatment of rural areas” compared to urban parts, Solanki said, “Many villages do not even have proper sewage systems, and the roads are filled with potholes. Life has become unbearable for the residents.”
The Mahapanchayat focused on several pressing issues, including the resumption of land mutation processes in Delhi’s villages, granting land ownership rights, and providing alternative plots to those whose lands had been acquired by the government. They also demanded the implementation of the Swamitva Yojana ownership scheme (ownership rights) without the burden of stamp duty, the notification of the 2041 Master Plan, and amendments to the land pooling policy.
The Mahapanchayat also demanded the cancellation of outdated land laws, an end to demolition and sealing drives, and the prevention of encroachment by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and electricity companies in rural areas. Solanki issued a 15-day ultimatum to the government to act on their concerns, threatening an indefinite protest if no action is taken.