Srinagar, June 12: Lashing out at the coalition government for “delaying” empowerment of Panchayats, Peoples Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said the National Conference would have to pay for rendering the grass root institutions dysfunctional.
 “Panchayats are the basic institutions of democracy and should be empowered. These institutions are in the interest of peoples’ welfare and delaying their empowerment will harm the people of the state”, Mehbooba said while talking to KNS. “If they fail to empower them, the National Conference will have to pay dearly for it,” she added.
 Calling the setting up of Panchyati Raj Institutions a cruel joke with the people of the state, she called for early delegation of power to Panchs and Sarpanchs, which according to her will help in upholding the sanctity of people’s emotions in general and those of the Panchayats in particular. The PDP President also demanded that honorarium in favour of the Panchs and Sarpanchs be fixed at the earliest. “They risked their lives, people came out to vote and it all ended up in nothing”, Mehbooba said. “Panchs and Sarpanchs left their jobs and came into the system but unfortunately they are starving”, she added. “The government must fix a suitable honorarium for them so that they could also honorably carry out their work. We had done the same in respect of urban local bodies members” Mehbooba said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST