Himachal Govt should withdraw the decision to merge the areas of three Panchayats of Kasumpati: Dr. Tanwar

Hiper Kisan Sabha has opposed the recent decision taken in the Cabinet to merge parts of three gram panchayats of Kasanupti constituency, Mashobra, Dhali, and Pujarli, with Shimla Municipal Corporation. State President of Kisan Sabha, Dr. Kuldeep Tanwar, in his statement issued on Sunday, has called this decision taken in the cabinet without thinking as a Tughlaqi decree.
He said that due to the inclusion of rural areas into urban bodies, people are being forced to pay various types of taxes imposed by the Municipal Corporation. Apart from this, especially the farmers are not getting the facilities and grants from the government for agriculture, horticulture, irrigation, etc. Due to the merger of Panchayats into the Municipal Corporation, people have been deprived of many government schemes available through the Forest Rights Act and Gram Sabha.
Dr. Tanwar says that due to the merger of rural areas into the Municipal Corporation, if people want to construct a cow shed, then also they will have to get the map passed from the Municipal Corporation. You will not be able to cut even small trees of any kind from your private property. For which approval will have to be taken from the Municipal Corporation. Told that in rural areas, Jal Shakti Department provides water to the people at a minimum rate. Whereas by joining a Municipal Corporation, people will have to pay water bills as per Municipal Corporation rates which is beyond the reach of poor people. They say that if the government wants to expand the area of ​​the Municipal Corporation, then rural areas should be included in Nagar Panchayat in the first phase, the Municipal Council in the second phase, and the Municipal Corporation in the last phase. It is not appropriate to directly merge Gram Panchayat with Municipal Corporation. He said that till the year 1996, the area of ​​Shimla Municipal Corporation was only eight square kilometers. Subsequently, 34 villages of nine panchayats have been included in the Municipal Corporation and its area has been increased to 36 square kilometers.
Dr. Tanwar has demanded from the government that the cabinet should immediately withdraw the decision to hastily merge some areas of three panchayats of Kasupanti so that the farmers living in these areas are not affected. He said that Kisan Sabha will submit a memorandum in this regard to the government through DC Shimla on March 11.