Panchayat to boycott Rao’s event

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Bawal (Rewari), January 20

The panchayat of Bawal 84, a group of various villages under Bawal subdivision, on Sunday resolved to boycott the inauguration ceremony of Rao Tula Ram Park scheduled for January 23 in Bawal. 

Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh will be the chief guest of the function that will be organised by Public Health and Engineering Minister Banwari Lal.

The panchayat, presided over by Sumer Singh, was organised in support of the villagers, who have been staging an indefinite dharna outside the local residence of Banwari Lal for the past 110 days against the police’s inability to locate a schoolgirl who went missing six months ago.

Speakers at the panchayat said Rao Inderjit and Banwari Lal were responsible for their decision to boycott the event as they had failed to raise the issue prominently despite being public representatives of this region.

“We will not only boycott the function, but also resist it by taking out a ‘shavyatra’ (funeral procession) of both leaders in Bawal on January 23 as they have failed to share the sorrow of the girl’s family. The leaders should cancel the programme to avoid resistance by the protesters,” said Sumer Singh.

He maintained they had been organising dharna for the past 110 days but no leader paid any heed.

“We will do everything we can to resist Rao Inderjit and Banwari Lal 

on January 23,” said Ramkisan Mehlawat, another protester.

Meanwhile, DSP Satpal Yadav said adequate security arrangements would be made to prevent any untoward incident.

Case recall

• Shivani (13) had gone missing under mysterious circumstances from her Mohanpur village on June 27 last year
• Initially, her family and supporters staged a dharna outside the mini secretariat in Rewari for several days
• They lifted the dharna following an assurance by the police that the girl would be traced within some days
• The case was later handed over to the state Crime Bureau on the request of Banwari Lal when the kin threatened to resume the agitation