100 more village heads announce resignation

The panches and sarpanches, mostly hailing from north Kashmir's Baramulla district, announced their resignations through paid advertisements in local dailies.

Almost all those who have announced their resignations claimed that they are resigning due to personal reasons.

"I...Am resigning from the post of panch/sarpanch on personal grounds. From today, I will have no connection with any political party or Panchayati system. This is for the information of all," the advertisements published in several Urdu dailies read.

Authorities yesterday confirmed receipt of almost 40 resignations of panches and sarpanches in Baramulla district alone after the killing of their colleague on Sunday but preferred silence about the total number of grass root level representatives quitting the job so far. 53 panches had yesterday announced their resignations through local dailies.

"We do not have the exact figures right now but we are collecting the number of resignations tendered by panches and sarpanches since Sunday," an official of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj department told PTI.

As per the paid advertisements in the local dailies, nearly 200 panches and sarpanches have announced their resignations fearing for their lives during the past two days.

Admitting that the resignations have been triggered by the killing of the grass root level representatives, the official said resignations announced before media or in Mosques will not be considered and panches will have to follow the due procedure if they want to resign. MORE