Congress Alleges Harassment Of Sarpanches In State

Continuing his tirade against the Telangana TRS government on the second day of the Congress training camp, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the State government for not implementing the promised Single Cheque Power system that was meant to empower Sarpanches.

The Congress leader alleged that the TRS-led government was harassing the sarpanches of the Gram Panchayats by retaining the Joint Cheque Power (JCP) system that was compelling the sarpanches to pay the development bill arrears from their personal funds, and warned retaliation.

"K T Rama Rao had promised to implement the Single Cheque Power system last year, so that the sarpanches would not have to run around for special permissions to use the grameen funds for development. But that promise has been forgotten by him. Due to this, the sarpanches, who already receive a nominal salary from the government, are forced to foot bills for development schemes and the basic needs of the villages such as electricity, sanitation and roads by themselves. The government is forcing sarpanches to even pay the arrears for the Water Grid scheme under the JCP," he alleged.

He also accused the TRS of creating differences between the sarpanches of the Congress and the villagers.

"The Sarpanches did not win the elections with the help of the TRS. They won it fair and square through elections," he added.