Janachaitanya Vedika demands local body elections

Ongole: The Janachaitanya Vedika demanded that the state government conduct elections for the local bodies including the panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations in the state without fail by conducting the delimitations and allotting reservations in time.

The Janachaitanya Vedika, the Suparipalana Vedika and the opposition parties organised a press meet in Ongole on Wednesday, demanding that the government keep the spirit of local bodies and forward powers to them as per the panchayat raj act.

The state president of the Janachaitanya Vedika, V Lakshmana Reddy, Prakasam district president of BJP, PV Krishna Reddy, district secretary of CPI ML Narayana, Punati Anjaneyulu of CPM, YSRCP Ongole president Singaraju Venkatrao, Suparipalana Vedika former president Thatiparti Gopal Reddy and others said that the state government should have provided the data of the public in all panchayats and supply the delimitation and reservation recommendations to the Election Commission by now. 

They said that the new elected bodies should take the oath of office by August. But there was no sign of it in the state. They alleged that the government was damaging the spirit of local bodies by appointing the Janmabhoomi Committees to select the beneficiaries and awarding them to the own party cadre. They opined that the local bodies were functioning well in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Kerala with true spirit. 

They said that the sarpanches in those states and the local Gram Sabha decide which work to be done on priority and who would be the beneficiary for the schemes by submitting a ground report.

The leaders said that the government was postponing the elections of local bodies with fear of defeat and that was the reason for not conducting elections in Ongole municipal corporation since it upgraded from municipality. 

They demanded that the government implement the panchayat raj act amendments and transfer powers to local bodies so that they concentrate on education, health and other locally important issues.