Kolkata, July 5 -- Amid reports that a large number of panchayat chiefs have stopped attending their offices following the change of guard in the state, Bengal Panchayats and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh on Sunday issued a stern warning, saying continued absenteeism could trigger public anger.
Claiming that the absence of panchayat heads had disrupted governance, Ghosh said several offices had become non-functional, delaying administrative work and development projects.
"Nearly 2,000 Pradhans are not attending office. Many have gone into hiding. They should either resign or return to work. If this continues, people will throw stones at their homes instead of eggs," Ghosh said.
Most panchayats in West Bengal were earlier controlled by the Trinamool Congress.
However, following the party's defeat in the Assembly elections, several panchayat boards have reportedly become dysfunctional, with many leaders resigning or remaining inactive, affecting the implementation of development schemes in villages.
The Trinamool Congress, however, rejected the minister's allegations that its panchayat pradhans were deliberately staying away from work. Senior party leader and MP Kalyan Banerjee alleged that BJP workers and the police were preventing elected representatives from entering panchayat offices.
"It is not true that Panchayat Pradhans are avoiding office. BJP workers and the police are not allowing them to enter.
If they do, they are falsely implicated and arrested. The police are guarding Panchayat offices while the minister is making light of the situation," Banerjee said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.