NC, if comes to power, will strengthen Panchayats: Farooq

Jammu, Jan 5 (UNI) Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference patron Dr Farooq Abdullah today said if voted to power, his party would strengthen Panchayati system by amending the Panchayat Raj Act.

Speaking to the people at a public rally at Bishnah on the city outskirts, Dr Abdullah said Panchayat system has collapsed due to the non-serious approach of the ruling coalition government in the state.

''If National Conference is voted to power, the party will amend the Panchayat Raj Act so as to strengthen the system at its grassroot level,'' Dr Abdullah said lambasting the state government for its anti-people policies.

''The poor are getting poorer and ministers are filling their own pockets,'' he alleged saying that the so called war against corruption had turned out to be a war for minting public money and looting state exchequer.

However, the NC patron also said the much hyped State Accountability Commission (SAC) constituted by the government had been rendered helpless only because the ministers and MLAs of the ruling alliance were getting exposed in the Commission.

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