Powerless panchayats

Nine months after Jharkhand held its first panchayat polls,elected representatives complain of poor infrastructure,lack of support.

A makeshift room,its roof covered with plastic sheet and walls made of bamboo tied together with hand-spun rope,is the panchayat office at Turiamba,in Jharkhands Gumla district. Mukhiya Mani Devi is the sole occupant of the office. Adjacent to her room is an open toilet and next to it is another buildingthe panchayat office that the state government built in 1995. The two rooms in this office are stacked with cowdung cakes and its roofs and and walls are crumbling. Since this building is not safe to work in,Devi says she prefers the makeshift room.

In the same district,panchayat heads Gandura Oraon of Marasili and Sukri Devi of Amalia panchayat operate from their homes. The government has not even given us stationery to record the demands and complaints of people, says Oraon.

Turiamba,Marasili and Amalia panchayats in Maoist-affected Gumla district are among the 4,423 panchayats that went to the polls in November-December last yearthe first panchayat elections in Jharkhand. According to the provisions of the Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act PESA,1996,each panchayat has the powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government. These included the powers to enforce prohibition,have ownership of minor forest produce,prevent alienation of land,manage the village market,control resources and make plans for the development of the community.

More than nine months after the elections,panchayat heads say they have their hands tied. Most of these panchayats lack the infrastructure and staff required to carry out their work.

Mani Devi of Turiamba panchayat had drawn money from her personal bank account to purchase two copy books,one register and a pen,besides four plastic chairs and a table. After I got elected,the state government has not given me any power. But the people who voted for me have expectations and I have to fulfill their demands for roads,drains,water,medicine and so on. If nothing else,I need stationery to record their complaints and demands. So I bought some of it, she says.

When asked why panchayats were not empowered,Tanuja Lakra,Block Development Officer at Bharno block in Gumla,under whose jurisdiction these panchayats fell,shot back: Why dont you ask the government?

On September 4,hundreds of these elected representatives of rural bodies held a demonstration outside the state assembly under the banner of the Gram Swaraj Manch. On September 13,a group of them enforced a road blockade in Dumka.

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Crores of funds meant for development are at stake. We want the state government to provide local bodies all those powers that are given to them by law, says Ashok Bhagat,president of the Manch.

Though Bhagat says the infrastructure should have been ready before the elections were held,government officials say it takes time to put a system in place. They point out that the government has begun work on constructing panchayat office buildings across the state and equipping every panchayat office with fax,telephone and computer.

It takes time to institutionalise panchayats. We hope to complete the work by the end of this fiscal, says Nagina Singh,Deputy Secretary Panchayati Raj.

As of now,the state government has opened two bank accountsone under the head MNREGA with a deposit of Rs 30 lakh and another under the head Development with a deposit of Rs 50 lakhfor Turiamba panchayat. These accounts were to be jointly operated by the mukhiya as its chairperson and panchayat sevak as secretary.

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While the MNREGA account showed a withdrawal of nearly Rs 25 lakh,the development fund remained unutilised since the state government had not notified the rules and regulations relating to its withdrawal.

Though Jharkhand was created in 2000,panchayat elections were held up because of various litigations. After a decade,the Supreme Court cleared these litigations and ordered the State Election Commission in 2010 to hold these polls at the earliest.