ITANAGAR, 26 Jul: Members of the Arunachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Parishad held a meeting here on Monday to discuss various issues concerning the panchayati raj institutions (PRI), and formed an interim committee to take up the issues of the PRIs.
Later, briefing the media, Kamle district ZPC Biri Shanti Nido appealed to the state government to devolve power to the PRIs at the earliest.
“Chief Minister Pema Khandu on several occasions assured to devolve power to the PRIs. Therefore, on behalf of the panchayat leaders of the state, I appeal to the CM to fulfil the promise soon,” said Nido.
She alleged that MLAs are against giving power to the PRI bodies and are putting pressure on the CM not to devolve power.
“Once the panchayat bodies get power, the role of the MLAs at the grassroots level will be minimized. Due to this, MLAs are not enthusiastic about power devolution. But we are also elected leaders and are answerable to our voters. Without power, we are not able to implement our vision at the grassroots,” she said.
Nido also said that, even though a two-tier panchayat system has been adopted, powers and functions have still not been specified.
