From News Dispatches
BARNALA: Panchayat elections in most districts of Punjab will be held in June in a phased manner. A decision regarding the holding of elections in the districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur will be taken in accordance with the situation prevailing there.
This was started by S.L. Kapur Financial Commissioner, while answering newsmen’s questions at the PWD Rest House here yesterday. Newsmen also drew Mr. Kapur’s attention to the forcible collection of funds by Red Cross officials in the form to tickets at Malerkotla and some other places in Sangrur district.
In related news, the Janata Dal MP Satya Prakash Malayiya on May 13 said that the Panchayati Raj Bill scheduled to be introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi on Monday was a fraud on the country’s constitution and the panchayati raj systems as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the freedom struggle.
In a statement Malaviya said that the Bill in the name of decentralization sought to centralize power in the hands of the Centre. “Actually it is an attempt to destroy the panchayati raj system as was done by the Britishers,” he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 19, 1989
