Ranchi, April 13 (Inditop.com) The one-day strike called by non-tribals to protest the Jharkhand government’s move to hold panchayat polls by reserving the post of village council heads for tribal people affected normal life in some parts of the state Tuesday.
Schools and shops were closed in Ranchi, roads were deserted and attendance in government offices was thin. Police used lathis to disperse strike supporters who forcefully tried to close shops.
The strike also affected life in Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh and Giridih towns.
In January, the Supreme Court directed the state government to hold panchayat elections at the earliest in accordance with the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) 1996, under which the posts of mukhiyas and sarpanch are reserved for tribals in scheduled areas as defined by the constitution.
The Jharkhand government April 9 decided to hold panchayat polls before June 30.
The non-tribals were opposing the polls, saying the posts could not be reserved for tribals as their population in many scheduled areas was less than 10 percent.
Former minister and Bahujan Sadan Morcha president Lal Chand Mahto told reporters: “Schedule area notification has been done in a wrong way in Jharkhand. How can an area where tribal population is less than 50 percent be covered under scheduled area?”
He added: “There are scores of panchayats where tribal population is just one or two percent, but the mukhiyas and sarpanch posts have been reserved for them. This is not acceptable to us.”
