Villagers created ruckus in the selection of fair price vendor’s shop in Gram Panchayat Rakhiya of Kaptanganj development block.

Settlement. A meeting was organized at the Panchayat Bhawan for the selection of the shop of fair price vendor (kotedar) in Kaptanganj Gram Panchayat Rakhiya, development block of Basti district. The meeting was held in the presence of Block Development Officer Kaptanganj Chandrabhan Upadhyay, Assistant Development Officer (Panchayat) Sushil Kumar Srivastava, Assistant Development Officer (Agriculture) Arun Patel, Secretary Arvind Chaudhary, Village Head Sugriva Yadav and Kaptanganj Police. To select a fair price vendor shop, first of all it was necessary for one-fourth of the voters from the Gram Panchayat voter list to be present in the meeting. The Block Development Officer said that according to the voter list of the Gram Panchayat, 426 voters were instructed to start the other process only after attending the meeting. First of all, the presence of the villagers present in the meeting was registered through signatures and later the rules issued for selection of shops selling fair price were explained. While telling the rules issued by the responsible officers for the selection of fair price vendor shops, the villagers started creating ruckus and accused the responsible officers and employees and said that all the rules for the selection of fair price vendor shops were not told earlier and instructions were given to complete the selection process in the open meeting of the villagers. The villagers said that the selection process should be done in an open meeting of the villagers, but the officers and employees involved in the selection process said that we cannot do the selection in an open meeting and we will work as per the law. After some time, even before the selection process, BDO and ADO left the Panchayat meeting and went to the block headquarters. The women present in the meeting protested by boycotting the meeting and remained adamant on the demand of canceling the meeting and fixing the date for selection of fair price vendor shops. Amidst the uproar of the villagers present in the meeting, Secretary Arvind Chaudhary accepted the application of a woman from a group for a fair price vendor shop. When the villagers came to know that the secretary had accepted the application of a group of women, the women became furious and came in front of the vehicle of Secretary Arvind Choudhary and started protesting. Seeing the strong protest by women, Kaptanganj police gave information through phone at Kaptanganj police station and demanded to send police force in large numbers again. After some time, the Kaptanganj team arrived in large numbers and calmed down the matter by understanding the angry women. In this regard, village head Sugriva Yadav said that the process of selection of the fair price vendor’s shop could not be completed due to the uproar, a demand would be made again from the responsible officers to complete the selection process and Secretary Arvind Chaudhary did not receive the call. In the said case, Block Development Officer Chandrabhan Upadhyay said that the Secretary has informed that a form has been given by a group but all the actions of the selection process have not been completed yet. The final decision will be taken on the basis of consent of the village head and villagers.