Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday said that panchayat polls will be soon held in the state. Replying during the Chief Minister’s question hour during the ongoing Budget Session of Jharkhand Assembly he said that due to delay in panchayat polls the state government has incurred losses worth Rs 700-Rs 800 crore.
He said that nowhere in the order of the Supreme Court it has been said that without conducting the triple test the panchayat polls can not be held. He said that if that was the case panchayat polls would not have been held in Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The Chief Minister said that panchayat polls are pending in the state since 2021. He accused the opposition of adopting dual policy over the matter. He said that while on one hand, the opposition was creating pressure to conduct the polls while on the other side it was also demanding a triple test. He said that he has reliably learned that the opposition was planning to bring the Mukhiyas on the road to conduct the panchayat polls.
The Chief Minister said that there are many members from the OBC community inside the Assembly and here there was no reservation, moreover conducting the polls will lead to a waste of time and loss of money for the government. He said that it is evident that in OBC dominated areas OBC Mukhiyas will be elected.
As soon as the start functioning AJSU MLA Sudesh Mahto raised the issue of the murder of Sunil Mahto, Shaktinath Mahto, and Nirmal Mahto. He said that all these murders were held as part of a political conspiracy. He sought a reply from the government as to whether it wanted to recommend NIA probe into these killings.
On this, the Chief Minister said charge sheet has been filed in the death connection of Nirmal Mahto while Shaktinath Mahto was murdered in 1977-78. On this Sudesh said that all the three were leaders of JMM and in case of political murders mere sending the accused inside jail is not enough and the entire conspiracy should be brought out in pen.
To another query, he said that the coal companies take the land from the rayats under the coal-bearing act which is a rule of the center and not of the state government. He said that the previous government had not framed a rule to return the land of the owners and the empty land had to be deposited in the land bank.
Over the issue of return of the land of the rayats he said that after having a detailed analysis of the coal-bearing act a decision will be taken.