BONGAIGAON, Oct 17 - A group of aggrieved women on Friday registered their protest against the alleged distribution of free yarn and mosquito nets among affluent beneficiaries under a reportedly unknown scheme at the Chakapara Gram Panchayat in Bongaigaon district.
Mina Ray, a panchayat member, secretly distributed two bundles of yarn and a mosquito net each among ten economically sound families, who are AGP supporters, on October 10, alleged Gitanjali Ray, a local woman.
Under the patronage of local AGP legislator Phani Bhusan Choudhury, such free distribution of scheme aid is on at the panchayat only to benefit his supporters and the actual beneficiaries have been deprived of their rights due to the discriminatory attitude of the legislator, alleged Dipti Pathak, another local woman.
To protest against this injustice and ascertain the scheme under which the distribution has been going on, a group of local women reached the panchayat office on Friday to contact its president, Bidya Ram Ray. But neither Ray, nor the secretary was present at the office to address their grievances.
When contacted, Mina Ray, panchayat member, expressed ignorance about the scheme under which yarn and mosquito nets were distributed. Similarly, panchayat workers present at the office also could not divulge anything about the scheme of free distribution of yarn and mosquito nets.
Local people alleged that some panchayats in the district have been working at the behest of a political party instead of the Government, which is detrimental to the very purpose of panchayati raj.
