The campaign to educate the Girijans on the provisions of Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act and conduct of grama sabhas to elect committee members is not happening properly, CPI(M) district secretary K. Loknadham said.
In a letter to Project Officer Integrated Tribal Development Agency (Paderu) Vinay Chand the CPI(M) leader said that this was happening as most officers conducting the grama sabhas were not properly trained in it.
Referring to the orders of the PO directing all the Government staff and officials to be involved in the campaign from August 16 to 25 and also conduct grama sabhas from August 26 to September 6, he said that in many villages the attendance was very poor which reflected on the efficacy of the campaign.
Further, the elections to the committees were being conducted in the presence of the Sarpanch whose handpicked persons were being elected. In such cases there was no representation of other political parties defeating the concept of grass root democracy, he said.
The Left party leader sought the intervention of PO ITDA to ensure that awareness was created among Girijans on the provisions and purpose of PESA Act.
