My interaction with the Panchayat Raj system confirms my belief that the system is riddled with scum and dirt where members can make and break their views and decisions to suit their own interests without caring about that of the village. The common man has to struggle and fight a well entrenched system hell bent on circumcising the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act on which these institutions were formed.
Although most of us show least concern around what’s happening around our secured dwellings, a few like-minded conscious citizens do keep a track of what happens around our neighborhood. The need for a decent house or an apartment has made construction plan approvals a very lucrative avenue for the Panchayats, the Technical Officers /Planning Assistants of TCP who grab opportunities when available off the shelf and bend rules as per their discretion.
While the rule book gathers dust, and meant for the weak and poor, plans are approved just by meeting the basic requirements on the blue print while actual reality is a different story altogether as proved time and again by facts and joint site inspections. Fortunately the RTI Act seems to have come to a rescue of the common man where actual facts can be squeezed out for exposure of the guilty and corrupt.
Panchayats have to be forced to display the Construction Plan Details and other applications on their notice boards at least for a fortnight inviting objections and highlighting irregularities from citizens if any. Today, the people are not even aware of any construction file approved in their neighborhood until the construction comes up and occupancy granted. What is most alarming is that house owners once all approvals are granted start putting fences, illegal boundary walls and obstructions along the public accesses to hurriedly claim back what they have legally forfeited during the plan approval process.
Today, the Panchayat Raj system has turned cancerous in the changed environment where the weak are made to suffer under the guise of laws and bye laws while the influential can get away with their wrongs with tacit support of our representatives. Sarpanchas have turned themselves into mere rubber stamps acting at the behest of their mentors and supporters to hold onto their chair.
Village secretaries who are supposed to be acting independently as government representatives have succumbed to the pressures of the system and at times forget their righteous duties detailed under the Panchayat Raj Act. At times, they seem to be singing the same tune as their bosses in the Panchayat under whom they find divine guidance for their shortcomings and wrong doings.
My observation is that every Panchayat needs an honest IAS officer who can bring back the Panchayat Raj System to its intended goal and instill confidence of the villager in the desecrated system. Every Panchayat meeting needs to be attended by conscious villagers to judge the performance of their members. Gram Sabhas need to be conducted in good faith and order with proceedings duly video recorded and used by the Gram Sabha members for forcing development in their village rather than as a front to level charges and counter charges against one another.
