Sonepat Zila Parishad members seek grant on lines of MPs, MLAs

Zila Parishad members staged a demonstration in support of their long-standing demands in Sonepat on Wednesday.

Zila Parishad member Sanjay Badwasnia, accompanied by other members, took out a march on a horse with a bundle of fodder on his head. They started from Police Lines and went up to the Zila Parishad office.

Badwasnia said that the Zila Parishad members were handicapped as they had no rights related to development works due to which people were harassed in rural areas. He said that the government should give a grant of Rs 1 crore annually to the members of Zila Parishad so that they could carry out development works in their areas.

He said like the quota for MLAs and MPs had been fixed, quota for Zila Parishad members should also be fixed.

Badwasnia further said that the councillors, who had only 12,000-15,000 votes in their area, could spend Rs 60 crore to Rs 70 crore in their wards but the zila parishad members, who had 18-20 villages under them, didn’t have the power to carry out works in their areas.

The members demanded constitution of a district planning committee (DPC). He said earlier, there was a DPC but after the formation of the BJP government, the committee had not been formed. Badwasnia claimed that they had met Chief Minister Nayab Sing Saini before the Assembly elections and he had assured them that their demands would be considered. Zila Parishad members Sant Kumar, Devender Kumar, Kuldeep, Rajesh, Narender Kumar, Yashpal Bajana, Vikas Butana, Jai Singh thekedar were among others present during the protest.