Aurangabad, Sept 2:
Sensation has prevailed in Waluj Mahanagar after the administration has geared up to include seven-gram panchayats (GPs) into the jurisdiction of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Meanwhile, the local leaders and the villagers strongly opposed the move claiming that on one hand they will be burdened by various types of taxes and on another hand, they will have to struggle frequently with AMC for basic amenities.
It may be noted that the Cidco administration is strongly pursuing the proposal of including Teesgaon, Golwadi, Wadgaon-Bajajnagar, Pandharpur, Wadadgaon, Waluj and one other village (from the jurisdiction of Cidco Waluj Mahanagar - I, II and IV) into the AMC limit. Presently, the basic amenities are provided to these villagers by local gram panchayats, Cidco and MIDC administrations. Earlier, the villages Padegaon, Mitmita, Satara and Deolai were included in the AMC jurisdiction. As a result, the civic administration is having a tough time in providing basic amenities to these added areas and the residents are also compelled to struggle for facilities.
Majority of the people staying in these villages are of workers category. Hence the villagers expressed their fear saying that they would be burdened by water tax, property tax and other taxes. Presently, the GPs collect affordable taxes against the facilities. Hence the villagers, apart from office-bearers of various GPs, zilla parishad and panchayat samitis, took a vow to oppose the inclusion.
Meanwhile, an action committee has been formed to protest the decision, said the former sarpanch Wadgaon-Bajajnagar Sachin Garad, Teesgaon deputy sarpanch Nagesh Kuthare, Wadadgaon sarpanch Amar Dangar, former panchayat samiti member Ganesh Navale, Waluj's sarpanch Saeeda Bi Pathan, Pandharpur sarpanch Vaishali Raut, deputy sarpanch Reshma Shaikh and others. The office-bearers of the above seven GPs also decided to pass a resolution protesting against Cidco's proposal in their respective gram sabhas and wage an agitation through the action committee, they hinted.
The action committee office-bearers held an emergency meeting today in Cidco and decided to meet the AMC administrator A K Pandey and Cidco's chief administrator Deepa Mudhol tomorrow (September 3), said Nagesh Kuthare, Narendra Yadav, Kakasaheb Butte, Sudam Jadhav and Chandrakant Chordiya.