Villages resist inclusion in Dharamsala civic body

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 3

With Dharamsala being selected as the smart city, the district administration has started the process of increasing the municipal area limits of the town.

Sources here said three panchayats adjoining Dharamsala had been asked to give their views regarding inclusion in the municipal council of the town.

The three panchayats are Mant panchayat that has Ram Nagar, Sham Nagar villages, Upper Barol panchayat and Tau and Chola villages in Kajlot panchayat.

However, the move to include the panchayats in Dharamsala is drawing resistance from residents and panchayat members.

Sandeep Singh, pradhan of the Upper Barol panchayat, said he had called a general house of the panchayat tomorrow to ask villagers regarding the inclusion in the municipal council. Earlier also he had tried to gauge the mood of people. But about 90 per cent villagers were against joining the municipal council.

He said a majority of the residents of Upper Barol were agriculturists and dependent on animal husbandry for livelihood. They were getting benefits of the MGNREGA scheme, no taxes were being levied on them for rearing animals and water bills were petty. If the village was included in the municipal council, the people would lose jobs under MGNREGA and taxes on them would increase, the village pradhan said.

Sources said the Mant panchayat had also called a general house tomorrow over the issue. Sham Nagar and Ram Nagar were part of the Dharamsala municipal council. The areas already have facilities such as streetlights, sewerage system and concrete roads. Ssources here said a majority of the residents of panchayat were not against the inclusion in the municipal council.

Tau and Chola villages are part of the Kajlot panchayat. Both villages are remote and fall in active sliding zones. The people in these villages are mostly Gaddi tribals and poor and are against the move.

The Dharamsala municipal council will have to submit a detailed plan for developing the area. For this, the municipal council would get Rs 2 crore as grant from the Centre.

The authorities are trying to include the surrounding areas of Dharamsala into the municipal council so that a comprehensive plan, including about 1 lakh population, could be drafted under the Smart City scheme.

The executive officer of the Dharamsala municipal council was not available for comments.