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Patna: Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday faced a protest by nearly 2,000
rural representatives from across the state against
'high-handedness' of officials and "rampant corruption" in
implementation of development schemes at the village level, an
official said.
The rural representatives, including the 'mukhiyas' (village
heads) had gathered here to listen to Nitish Kumar for tips on
good governance.
They protested after they were not allowed to express their views
regarding the problems they face while dealing with district
officials.
"What angered us that our simple plea to provide us an opportunity
to express our genuine grievances about development at the ground
level and our important role before Nitish Kumar was refused by
some vested officials. We were forced to protest to draw
attention," said Ajay Singh, an elected rural representative.
Another rural representative, Lakshmi Devi said they have been
totally neglected and ignored by officials in implementation of
development schemes.
"We are treated badly by concerned officials and we have no say in
development," she said.
However, Nitish Kumar who has been praised for good governance in
Bihar provided tips to the rural representatives at the state
level training programme here.
He apprised them about their role and responsibilities and how to
ensure good governance at the panchayat level.
The state government has decided to organise four days of training
to all elected representatives of rural bodies next month.
According to panchayat department officials, training for rural
bodies representatives was planned last year itself soon after
panchayat polls in May 2011. But it was not held due to some
technical reasons.
In Bihar, there are 8,442 village body heads, 8,422 sarpanches,
1,15,542 panchayat members, 1,15,542 panchses, 11,534 panchayat
samiti members and 1,162 zilla parishad members.
In 2006, Bihar became the first state in India to give 50 percent
reservation to women in the panchayats.
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