Panchayat leaders boycott meeting in absence of DC

BOKARO: The panchayat representatives on Monday boycotted a meeting of the district planning committee organized by the district administration at HSCL Club in Gumla.
The representatives were disgruntled at finding the secretary of the committee, who happens to be Bokaro DC Aarva Rajkamal, absent from the meeting. "It is pointless to attend the meeting without the secretary.It appears as if the officials are merely completing the formalities by organizing the meeting," complained Vimal Jaiswal, a panchayat leader.
The panchayat representatives alleged that ever since Rajkamal took charge as DC some months ago, he has held no meeting with the panchayat representatives. Zila parishad chairperson Mihir Singh was the first one to boycott the meeting. At the start of the meeting, Singh expressed the futility of attending the meeting without the secretary, in front of the officials of different departments and DDC Bokaro Sriram Tewary.
Later, he left the meeting hall, following which all other panchayat representatives also came out. Talking to mediapersons, they said they had boycotted the meeting. Dumri MLA Jagarnath Mahto, who was also present in the meeting, said officials don't seem to be committed to their work. They should have acted responsibly. The list of projects, which they had submitted to the administration, never reached the government, the panchayat leaders said.
Mahto expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the administrative officials.
He said, "Officials are still under the impression that we are under President's Rule, we shall make them understand that it is JMM's rule now. "