Gunehad panchayat opposes implementation of SADA

Dharamsala, August 22

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Residents of the Gunehad panchayat today held a meeting and unanimously opposed the implementation of Special Area Development Authority (SADA) in the village. As many as 150 people participated in the meeting chaired by panchayat pradhan Anjana Devi and deputy pradhan Dunichand. Residents said they were surprised that how a law had been imposed on them without informing them or taking their consent.

People said the government should first tell what good it had done in the areas where SADA law was already in force and only after that it should be implemented in other areas. They alleged that just 10 per cent of the funds collected from areas under SADA had been spent there and no other funds had been invested there in the name of development by the government.

A resident said, “The area of Gunehad, which is called Billing Take Off point, has been under SADA since the beginning but the government should give information about what has happened there in the name of development. The government has not been able to supply water there to date.”

The panchayat Pradhan said, “The government should also inform what it has done so far in Kotli ward of the panchayat because it has also been under SADA since beginning. No such law is applicable in the area of Mandi district adjoining the main landing site, despite the fact that it comes within a radius of just 100 meters of the landing. The government should first provide complete facilities for development in rural areas and then think about implementing SADA law there.”

People are surprised and said no NOC was taken from the panchayat regarding the notification for the implementation of SADA. The Pradhan said, the notification was issued secretly in March and after five months, now the panchayat got the news of the notification.