Villagers to move court against new status for Nerchowk

Tribune News Service

Mandi, November 29

Six panchayats included in the Nerchowk Nagar Parishad have decided to move the court against the formation of the urban body.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Nerchowk Nagar Parishad Virodh Sangahrsh Samiti convener Yudh Chand Saklani, a 90-year-old farm activist, said they had been protesting for the past more than two weeks against the formation of the urban body.

He said more than 95 per cent residents of the village Ner, Kasarla, Bhangrotu, Nagchala, Matleyhad and Dadour were farmers. The formation of the urban body would be fatal for the economy of the area, he said, adding that the villagers would be deprived of various benefits, including MGNREGA and all agriculture subsidies and on the other hand, the whole area would face House Tax, Professional Tax, Cattle Tax, Sanitation Tax, etc. The residents would have to pay hefty drinking water and irrigation bills, he added.

He said more people across party lines were joining the agitation which would continue till the demand of denotifying of these panchayats was not issued.

The sangharsh samiti also released a pamphlet highlighting the advantages of the Panchayati Raj system and disadvantages of becoming a Nagar Parishad.

Abha Jamwal, former pardhan and president of the Mahila Mandal, Nagchala, said Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary was befooling the people by stating that the Nagchala panchayat would be delinked after the elections.

Aam Aadmi Party district spokesperson Lawan Thakur, who had procured papers through the RTI, said the formation of the Nerchowk Nagar Parishad was wrong.

He said the RTI information revealed that the Director, Urban Development, in a letter sent to the Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, dated February 1, 2013, stated that the process of making the Nerchowk Nagar Parisahd was as per the wishes of the Excise and Taxation Minister.

He said there were three laid down rules for the constitution of a nagar parishad, including the latest population of the area should exceed 5,000, the revenue generation for the local administration should exceed Rs 10 lakh and procurement of the resolution passed by the gram panchayats in favour of the constitution of urban body. Thakur said the six affected panchayats had resolved that they were against being the part of the Nagar Parishad.

He said the district authorities had wrongly added the Sales Tax income from the sale of liquor amounting to more than Rs 1.10 crore and the revenue generated from the sale and purchase of land and properties amounting to Rs 29. 84 lakh, making the total income of the six panchayats to be Rs 1. 40 crore. But, revenue earnings of the area actually was only Rs 10,586 from all 13 revenue muhals, he added.

He said the income of the local administration was manipulative and hence ultra-vires and all gram sabha resolutions had denied being part of the urban body. The state government had overlooked the procedures and killed the spirit of the Panchayati Raj, he added.

He said it was done to increase the urban body units in Himachal so that more funds could be procured from the Union government. AAP would support the agitation till the end, he added.