The villagers of Waghavade in Belagavi, on Monday staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office demanding establishment of Gram Panchayat headquarter’s in their village.
Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi’s Belagavi taluk president Manohar Kinekar, Ex-MLA, who led the protest, said the Waghavade had its own Gram Panchayat since 1960 till 1984 when the government introduced Mandal Panchayat system by abolishing the GPs then.
After reverting to the Gram Panchayat raj, separate GPs were created for Santi Bastwad, Kinye, and Navage, which earlier were part of the Waghavade GP. But, no separate GP was created for the Waghavade in the latest delimitation exercise.
He said the delimitation exercise had not done justice to the Waghavade, a major village with over 2,500 voters. Along with separate GP, there should be at least seven seats in Waghavade village as against present five.
Nomination paper
Mr. Kinekar also demanded the district authorities to issue nomination paper for Gram Panchayat elections in Maratni language, which the Additional Deputy Commissioner G.L. Praveen Kumar assured to consider if the State Election Commission permitted.
