Kutumbakum is a village near Chennai. The Tamil Nadu Government was searching land for dumping the garbage of six neighboring cities. Some bright government officers identified a large tract of land, measuring about 100Acres, near this village which was used for grazing cattle. About 5000 cattle used to graze on this land. 70 acres of land was acquired by the order of the Collector of the city. This land was then used for dumping the refuge of six cities. Needless to mention the villagers of Kutumbakum were extremely angry.
They were neither consulted nor were their wishes of having this land as a grazing ground given a thought. They had to hunt for fresh grazing ground. The garbage dumped near the village created a health hazard for the locals. But when the villagers filed a suit against the government, they lost, because the collector was well within his rights to acquire this land.
Is this what Panchayati Raj is? Where the panchayat has no power, the sarpanch has no power and not to mention the people have no power. Where the state government through the Collector’s power can deprive the people of land and create a garbage dump against the wishes of their gram Sabha, the Sarpanch and the people. There is no sanity in a system that over ride the wishes of its people.
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