By IANS,
Kolkata : In an apparent jibe at the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government’s purported plans to run panchayat bodies through bureaucrats by overriding elected representatives, union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said this would not strengthen the democratic infrastructure.
“If the work of the panchayats is done by bureaucrats and officials then it will not lead to the strengthening of the democracy. And if this basic form of democracy is not strengthened no other form of governance can succeed,” said Mukherjee while addressing a convention here.
Earlier, the state Congress unit had alleged that the Trinamool-led state government was planning to give prominence to the bureaucracy over the elected panchayat functionaries in the state. It had also alleged that the panchayat system was being taken over by bureaucracy which was defeating the purpose of the system.
“The main intention of the panchayat system is decentralization of power. It is the first tier of governance. So we have to strengthen this first tier of governance. If there is any problem in panchayat system, we have to solve the problem by staying within the system. But in the name of solution we should not move away from the system,” said Mukherjee.
West Bengal has a three-tier panchayat system. With a majority of the panchayat bodies controlled by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been entrusting more responsibility on the Block Development Officers and the Sub-Divisional Officers, with an eye on the rural body polls scheduled for mid 2013.
Also the functioning of many of the panchayats has been hit with the office bearers – belonging to the LF – fleeing their locality fearing arrest or alleging torture and even complaining that they were not being allowed to carry out their duties.