DEHRADUN: The state government was in an awkward situation in the assembly on Wednesday as it came under a sharp attack from its own party MLAs as well as from the opposition over creation of district level development authorities and replacing them with the local development authorities. Speaker Premchand Aggarwal announced a panel which will review the decision and submit its report in the state assembly after dissatisfaction prevailed among leaders of both the parties on the issue.A question asked by BJP MLA Deshraj Karnwal over the issue of replacing local bodies with district level development authorities, met with echoes of support from the ruling and opposition party lawmakers. Karnwal claimed that after the change, people, escpecially villagers, were facing great difficulty in getting construction maps approved or in sale of property due to technical hindrances raised by district authorities.“Villagers are simple people and they can’t run around to complete the numerous queries raised by district authorities,” Karnwal pointed out.BJP’s Kichha MLA, Rajesh Shukla also echoed similar views giving the example of people who came to the country post-Partition in his constituency and were jointly given a chunk of land for making their houses. "Such people do not have registry of the land on which their houses are made. As per the earlier provisons, people did not have a registry but were provided lease,” he said adding that these people were facing problems from district authorities.Congress MLA from Dharchula, Harish Dhami added that a similar problem was faced by "each and every individual living in rural pockets included under these development authorities." “There is an immediate need to end these development authorites as the common man across the state is suffering,” he said.BJP MLA Sanjay Gupta and Congress legislator Karan Mahra were among the other lawmakers who opposed the move.In his reply, urban development minister Madan Kaushik said, “With the aim to carry out quick development works in large areas, 11 district level development authorities were formed at Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pauri, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh , Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Tehri and Almora .” He added that the district authorities have been directed to ensure that people of areas now included under ttheir jurisdiction do not face any problem. “Efforts are being made so that people do not face problem in their transactions,” said Kaushik.

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