A day before polling for the parliamentary election begins, scores of sarpanchs and panchs elected to village bodies four months ago protested Wednesday to demand their monthly salary and government accommodation.
The protesting village bodies’ members say the stateadministration has forced them on to the roads, alleging they have been thrownout of accommodations provided by the government since the time of thepanchayat elections last year.
Scores of sarpanchs and panchs assembled at the PressEnclave here demanding their monthly salaries be paid to them.
“We risked our lives and participated in panchayat electionswhile the situation was tense in the (Kashmir) valley. We were promised fullsecurity for five years but we are provided nothing,” said Mohammad Altaf, aprotesting sarpanch from Pulwama district.
“We are also being thrown out of government accommodationsand scores of sarpanchs and panchs are without salary that was promised to us.”
The elected village bodies’ members fear for their livesafter allegedly having been thrown out of the hotel rooms the government hadhired for their secure lodging.
“I want to ask the Governor that whether these panchayatelections were held to have us killed or for development of the state,” Altafsaid.
The angry sarpanchs and panchs say the government made hugepromises of governance at grass root level through the panchayat system buteverything turned out to be empty claims.
“We are giving a 24-hour ultimatum to Governor to resume ouraccommodations and address our other demands else they will have to faceagitation as we will hit roads on daily basis,” a protesting village bodymember said.