Empowering panchayati raj in J-K our biggest dream: Lt Governor

Effective implementation of the three-tier panchayati raj system will help “mainstreaming of the public participation” in the decision-making process and development of the Union Territory, he said. “The implementation of panchayati raj system is our biggest target now. We are going to do it. It is our mission. Empowering this setup is our biggest dream. We will ensure its implementation,” Murmu said. He said three-tier panchayati raj institutions — district chairpersons, block chairpersons and village-level panch and sarpanch — have the potential to create a “new political power-cum-governance structure”.

Elections to panchayati raj are not held regularly and many vacancies remain to be filled.

Curfew-like restrictions, mainly to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, remained enforced in Kashmir on Wednesday as the Union Territory marked the first anniversary of revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Police and CRPF personnel were deployed in strength across the valley, especially Srinagar city, to ensure that the plans of separatists to disturb peace do not succeed, officials said. Meanwhile, the BJP’s Kashmir unit on Wednesday celebrated the first anniversary of the revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and accused those protesting the constitutional changes of being sympathisers of the IS. BJP leaders and workers unfurled the national flag at the party office and distributed sweets. “We are celebrating the completion of one year of abrogation of Article 370 (provisions) and the positive changes that it brought in Jammu and Kashmir,” BJP leader Altaf Thakur told reporters at the party office in Jawahar Nagar here.