Satara (Maharashtra), Dec 20 – Over 1200 gram panchayats in Maharashtra’s Satara district have remained virtually shut with the Sarpanch, deputy sarpanch, gram sevak, and other employees participating in a two-day bandh till Tuesday to press for their various demands including an increase in the honorarium.
In a statement, Nandkumar Phadatare, president of the district unit of Sarpanchan Parishad Pune, said a memorandum of demands has already been given to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and State Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan, detailing the various demands.
The Parishad has demanded an increase in the honorarium of the Sarpanch and his deputy to Rs 10,000 and Rs 3000, and the distribution of funds of the Finance Commission as per the present population, and not according to the 2011 Census. It has also sought the appointment of computer operators at the state level.
Jitendra Bhosale, state president of Sarpanch Parishad, Pune, claimed taking note of the bandh in Satara district, other grampanchayats in the state also joined the shutdown, paralyisng the functioning of the rural bodies across Maharashtra.
