Gadwal: Gram Panchayat secretaries fleece money from gullible

Gadwal: The Gram Panchayat secretaries are fleecing people in the rural villages demanding a huge sum of money just for the updating the details about the house site in various gram panchayats across the district.

During the past few days, it has come to notice that the gram panchayat secretaries and other local public representatives are resorting to collection of money from the gullible villagers in the name of updating their land details and house sites on the website of the government.

For instance, in newly-formed Umityala Thanda gram panchayat, the in charge panchayat secretary Mastan had taken Rs 3,000 to 5,000 from the villagers for just updating their house site and other land related details on the website. He had already collected Rs 1,000 to 1,200 from a few villagers and told them that they can pay the remaining amount in installments and had taken money from four persons to ensure house sites are admeasured properly and the same is updated at the government website for authentication. "The panchayat secretary has demanded an amount between Rs 3,000 to 5,000 for updating our house sites on the government website. We were told that if we do not pay, our details will not be fed and the authorities will treat our house as illegal construction and may even resort to demolition," said a woman on the condition of anonymity. As a person got suspicious about the activity and tried to take a video of them collecting the money, the panchayat secretary Mastan called those whom he cheated to the Gram Panchayat office to return their money fearing higher authorities' action against him.

As it is already known that recently the district collector Sruthi Ojha had issued suspension orders against Puduru panchayat secretary P Shibhashini for resorting to collection of money from the villagers for updating details of their houses and plots. In spite of stringent action, the gram panchayat secretaries and local leaders like sarpanch and deputy sarpanches are resorting to the illegal collection of money from people.