New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- Village panchayat heads who have resigned or stopped attending work have been given 15 days to resume their duties, failing which administrators will be appointed to run the concerned panchayats, state Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday.
Ghosh made the announcement after holding a meeting at Rabindra Bhavan in Cooch Behar to review the progress of rural development works in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts. The meeting was attended by Women and Child Welfare Minister Malti Rava Roy, Alipurduar MP Manoj Tigga, Minister of State Vishal Lama, several MLAs and senior administrative officials.
Ghosh said development work was being affected in some gram panchayats due to political issues. "There was a detailed discussion on development work. However, work is being hampered in some gram panchayats due to political problems. In some places, the heads have resigned, while in others they are not attending the panchayats regularly. As a result, administrative officers are facing difficulties in carrying out their work. Some complications have also arisen due to the new rules," he said.
The minister said the administration had made it clear that panchayat heads must return to work within 15 days. Otherwise, administrators would be appointed.
Later, Ghosh inaugurated several newly constructed infrastructure facilities at Falakata Krishak Bazar under the state Agriculture Marketing Department. The projects, built at a cost of around Rs 1.6 crore, were inaugurated in the presence of senior officials, including the secretary of the Agriculture Marketing Department and the Alipurduar district magistrate.
Ghosh directed the department to introduce more modern facilities at the Krishak Bazar. He said all such markets in the district would be renovated and made fully functional.
He also gave the green signal for setting up a government cold storage facility in the Alipurduar district and said plans would be taken up to establish a potato chips manufacturing unit.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.