BHUBANESWAR: Once delegated the power of district collector, sarpanchs from across the state launched a massive protest in the capital city on Monday alleging poor remuneration and curtailment of power.
With elections round the corner, around 6,000 sarpanchs under the banner of Sarpanch Mahasangh gathered near Master Canteen square and carried out a rally towards Naveen Niwas to gherao the chief minister’s residence and air their grievances. The protesters also had a scuffle with police as the latter tried to prevent them from proceeding towards Naveen Niwas.
While some of the sarpanchs were taken into preventive custody near Sishu Bhawan, others were sent back from the place. The agitating sarpanchs alleged that despite working for people in their community round-the-clock, they are being paid a meagre Rs 2,300 each. They demanded that their monthly remuneration be hiked to Rs 30,000.
“Despite working for the people at the grassroots, our remuneration has remained one of the lowest. Even the SFC and CFC staff are being paid more than us. The government is also not increasing the grant provided to panchayats,” alleged Giridhari Sethi, sarpanch of Gania GP in Nayagarh.
A woman sarpanch alleged that block-level officials excessively interfered in the works executed at the panchayat level. The agitators said they had protested in September last year for over 22 days over the issues. “If the government does not grant us our demands, we will intensify our agitation even more,” they threatened.