Chandigarh: MCC to merge five villages

Sukhbir Siwach
[ 8 Sep, 2006 0339hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

CHANDIGARH: Despite protests by some sarpanches and BJP activists, the UT administration has decided to go ahead with its plans to merge villages with the Chandigarh municipal corporation.

The administration has turned down the objections raised against the move and a notification will be issued soon to merge five villages with the civic body.

These villages are Dadu Majra, Kajheri, Maloya, Hallomajra and Palsora. The UT administration had decided to merge the villages in phases. Later, other villages in the UT would also be made a part of the civic body.

The administration had invited objections to its proposal a fortnight back and subsequently received nine.

Sources said many of those who had raised the objections had demanded that first better infrastructure should be provided in these villages. Some had demanded that these villages should be declared as 'model villages'.

Mayor Surinder Singh asserted that the civic body would insure improved infrastructure and facilities in these villages.

Talking to Times of Chandigarh, a senior UT officer said, "Villagers had raised some apprehensions regarding the importance of 'gram sabhas'. But there would be no vacuum as the municipal corporation would replace these bodies after the villages become a part of the civic body."

A few days back, in the wake of the UT administration's decision, a delegation led by Mam Chand Rana, sarpanch of Maloya and president of the BJP's Kisan Morcha, had met with the home secretary and had filed objections to the merger move in respect of Maloya and Dadu Majra villages.

"The UT administration's decision is not all in the interest of the residents of these villages and they should not be merged with the municipal council, as this would be a glaring violation of the Panchayati Raj Act as well as the Indian constitution", Rana said.

The delegation had told the home secretary that "the UT's move seems to have been taken hurriedly without taking into consideration the exact position of each village.

Most of the land in Maloya and Dadu Majra is agricultural and the residents' main source of livelihood is farming". BJP activists had recently staged a demonstration against the administration's move.