DEOGARH: Citing lack of cooperation by the assistant executive engineer (AEE), members of Barkote Sarpanch Sangh (BSS) on Friday locked the main gate and staged protest in front of the block office at Barkote demanding immediate transfer of the officer.
As many as 15 sarpanchs from different gram panchayats of the block under the leadership of BSS president Prakash Kumar Pani reached the block office in the morning and locked the main gate before staging dharna in front of it.
According to the agitators, AEE Rani Panda was not cooperating with them in matters of development of their areas. They alleged that Panda was even delaying the projects approved under the MGNREGA.
“The official does not receive our calls or meet us when we try discussing any matter related to development works in the block. We had tried intimating the issue to the cluster development officer and PDDRDA yet no action was taken in this regard,” they alleged.
Though officials waited outside the office for hours on the day, the protest was not called off as no one from the district administration turned up to discuss the issue. “We will resume our protest during the office hours on Saturday,” the agitators added.