Please endorse and circulate: Ensure fair & Independent Van Panchayat Elections

Petition

To:
1. Sri S.Raju , IAS
Commissioner Kumaon Division
Nainital, Uttarakhand
Office Phone : +91 5942 - 235750
Office Fax: +91 5942 - 236041
Residence Phone: +91 5942 - 233775
email: comm-kum-ua@nic.in

2. Shri N.S. Negi, IAS
District Magistrate
Pithoragarh District,
Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand,
Phone Office 1 +91 5964 225201
Phone / Fax Office 2 +91 5964 225441
Fax Number +91 5961 225395
Phone Office (Camp) +91 5964 225301
Phone Residence +91 5964 225001
Mobile Number +91 9410392121
Email : dm-pit-ua@nic.in. And uapit@nic.in

3. Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'
Hon. Chief Minister, Uttarakhand
Chief Minister Niwas. Circuit House
Old Annexe, Cantt Road,
Dehradun 248 001
Mobile: 09756937100
Phone Office: 0135-2740104, 2531533 2656068, 2655912,
Fax Office : 0135-2712527
Phone Residence : 0135-2755100, 0135-2755101
Fax Residence:0135-2755102
email: cm-uk@nic.in, nishankramesh@gmail.com

Respected Sirs,

We, members of Civil Society groups and concerned individuals from all over the country write to register our protest and concern at the systematic way in which the Van Panchayat elections in Sarmoli Jainti Van Panchayat (Village Forest Council), Munsiari Block, District Pithoragarh, have been systematically sabotaged since December 2009. As you may be aware, elections in this Van Panchayat were conducted on 3 separate occasions- the 12th and 20th of December 2009 and then on the 10th of January 2010. All three times the election process could not be completed as they were disrupted by an opposition of local contractors and contract workers of the National Thermal Power Corporation. This disruption is being raised by the contractor lobby mainly against the Sarpanch of Sarmoli Jainti Van Panchayat and the Panchayat Committee, who has been opposing the vicious activities of NTPC in the land acquisition process and has clearly been gaining the requisite support in the election proceedings carried out three times since December, 2009.

NTPC is currently engaged in the construction of a 261 MW Hydropower Project on the Gori river in the valley. For the purpose of HEP, the process of acquiring private as well as village community land in the region has faced strong resistance communities have been making their voices heard and other groups have also supported the opposition of land acquisition. The Sarmoli Jainti Van Panchayat has been supporting those who are losing the land so as to conserve the village forest, water, flora and fauna and the natural resource base which forms the basis of local livelihoods. The local administration is also in collusion with NTPC that Ms. Malika, the present Woman Sarpanch of Sarmoli Jainti Van Panchayat does not get re-elected at any cost. The private as well as village community land which would otherwise have been easy to acquire has now got a bit harder for NTPC. For the past many years present and past elected representatives of Van Panchayat and other groups supporting the opposition of land acquisition has successfully run an awareness and civil rights campaign against the ways that the companies and administration operate.

The village community and the elected representatives of the PRI- the Gram Pradhan, the Kshetriya Panchayat member and the Zilla Panchayat member- all have made a concerted effort on all three occasions to ensure free and fair elections. However, there has been a growing threat of violence and a total disregard for democratic processes. Ms. Malika Virdi has been facing repeated harassment by vested interests making a complete mockery of the Panchayati Raj Process.
This is to request you to please ensure free and fair elections in Sarmoli-Jainti Van Panchayat and to bring to book the disruptive elements that have forced the elections to be cancelled three times already. Specifically, we would like to request to you to ensure:

1. That elections now be held in a safe and neutral place- in the presence of an independent and impartial senior returning officer.

2. That action is taken against the elements that have disrupted free and fair elections all three times.

3. That the threat of violence against the present Woman Sarpanch, the women supporters and the village community by the opposition be stopped with immediate effect by arranging for security to be provided at the venue to prevent any untoward incident or brow beating of the genuine
voters.


Thanking you!