A sarpanch in the Narsinghpur district went on a dramatic protest and awarded himself Keying a panchayat building and threatened to sacrifice himself, on the claim that his grievances would not be considered. The event has led to the exposure of developmentally lagging local governance as well as development stalls.
It happened in the area of Siregaon Gram Panchayat, which is part of Narsinghpur district, Chichli Janpad Panchayat. It was reported that Sarpanch Mahendra Kushwaha shut himself in on Tuesday night inside the Panchayat Bhavan as a sign of protest. He had claimed that, though he had been complaining to the top officials, including the District Collector, nobody had taken steps to ensure that they addressed severe issues plaguing developmental operations in the village.
According to Mahendra Kushwaha, there have been administrative hurdles and failure of concerned departments to cooperate in conducting several government-funded development works in the gram panchayat, which have stalled or been delayed. He felt that he had tabled written grievances and prepared several representations to authorities at different levels, but none cared about his problems.
As a way of protesting against the non-reactionary attitude, the sarpanch took the extreme measure of locking himself in the Panchayat Bhavan. He threatened to take the extreme action of committing suicide inside the building, and he said this in response to the fact that the problems of the gram panchayat would not be solved at the earliest.
The event caused tension in the region upon the occurrence of the news to the locals about the protest of the sarpanch. It also happened that the information has been relayed to the administrative and police officials, who have reportedly been keeping closer watch on the situation. There is an effort being made to encourage the sarpanch to surface to solve the issue through dialogue.
The officials of the district administration have not made an official statement on the allegations yet. The scenario highlights piling pressure on elected local officials with regard to frustrations over slowness in development activities and non-administrative reaction.
Join our whatsapp group for the Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News