Udaipur Villagers from Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda Protest at Collectorate Demanding New Gram Panchayat, Warn of Election Boycott

UDAIPUR: Scores of residents from two neighboring revenue villages—Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda—marched from Court Chauraha to the Udaipur District Collectorate on Monday evening, staging an emphatic demonstration demanding the immediate creation of a separate Gram Panchayat. Raising slogans outside the Collectorate gates before meeting senior district officials, the protesting villagers handed over a formal memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan through Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Deependra Singh Rathore. Frustrated by months of unfulfilled assurances despite repeated official representations in February and April 2025, residents issued a stern ultimatum warning that both villages will boycott voting in upcoming Panchayati Raj, Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), and Lok Sabha elections unless their demand for a new Gram Panchayat is notified.

1. Slogans at Court Chauraha and Demonstration Outside Udaipur Collectorate

The protest gathered momentum late Monday afternoon as men, elders, youth, and community representatives from Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda assembled near Court Chauraha in Udaipur city. Carrying copies of their previous representations and revenue maps, the villagers marched toward the District Collectorate while raising slogans calling for administrative justice and decentralized grassroots governance.

Speaking outside the Collectorate premises, village representatives emphasized that their agitation is not politically motivated, but born out of daily administrative hardship. According to the delegation, residents have patiently followed every procedural norm during the state’s Panchayat delimitation and reorganization exercises over the past year, yet their legitimate proposal was overlooked while smaller habitations in neighboring blocks received Gram Panchayat status.

2. Why Villagers Want Separation from Kadiya Gram Panchayat: 8 KM Hilly Terrain & Transit Hardship

At the heart of the villagers’ grievance is the geographical layout of their current administrative unit, Kadiya Gram Panchayat. Residents explained to district officials that the Kadiya Panchayat headquarters is situated approximately 8 kilometers away from Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda.

Unlike plains areas connected by frequent state highways or rural bus routes, the belt linking Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda to Kadiya cuts through undulating Aravalli hilly terrain (पहाड़ी क्षेत्र) with minimal public transportation options:

• Lack of Public Transit: Without regular shared tempos or bus services connecting the hamlets to Kadiya, villagers either have to walk long stretches across hilly paths or hire expensive private vehicles just to get a single signature or verification from the Gram Vikas Adhikari (VDO) or Sarpanch.
• Loss of Daily Wages: For daily-wage laborers and marginal farmers, a single trip to the Kadiya Gram Panchayat office often consumes an entire working day, especially when server outages or official absences require multiple follow-up visits.
• Emergency & Civic Bottlenecks: Routine civic tasks—such as birth and death registration, Jan Aadhaar updates, caste and domicile verifications, MGNREGA job card entries, and housing inspections under PM Awas Yojana—become disproportionately difficult due to the 8 km physical barrier.

3. Impact on 70% Scheduled Tribe Population and Welfare Scheme Delivery

In their written representation to the district administration, villagers highlighted a critical socio-economic metric: approximately 70 percent of the total population across Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, alongside other economically vulnerable rural households.

Under the spirit of Rajasthan’s Panchayati Raj system and tribal sub-plan governance norms, administrative units in hilly and tribal-majority belts are meant to be geographically compact so that last-mile welfare delivery reaches every doorstep. Instead, villagers noted that the 8 km distance to Kadiya headquarters disproportionately hurts three groups:

1. Senior Citizens & Pensioners: Elderly residents requiring annual physical verification for social security pensions or ration authentication struggle to travel 16 km round-trip over hilly roads.
2. Rural Women & Maternal Health Beneficiaries: Women attending Gram Sabha meetings, self-help group (SHG) consultations, or applying for state welfare entitlements face mobility constraints due to the lack of direct public transport.
3. Economically Weaker Families: Marginalized tribal families frequently miss out on timely awareness and enrollment in state government camps because notices and camps remain concentrated at the distant Kadiya headquarters.

4. The 1,206 Voter Argument: Parity Demand With Vijaybawdi in Gogunda Panchayat Samiti

Beyond geography and demographics, the delegation presented concrete electoral roll figures to demonstrate that Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda comfortably fulfill the population and voter criteria for a standalone Gram Panchayat.

According to the official voter data cited in the memorandum, the combined area of Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda has 1,206 registered voters. Drawing a direct comparison with neighboring rural blocks, the villagers pointed out that in the adjacent Gogunda Panchayat Samiti jurisdiction, Vijaybawdi (विजयबावड़ी) village was accorded full Gram Panchayat status despite having fewer registered voters than 1,206.

Villagers argued that when a nearby habitation with a smaller electorate in the same geographical belt qualifies for an independent Gram Panchayat, denying the same status to Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda—which together represent 1,206 voters and a 70% tribal population—amounts to administrative disparity.

5. Chronology of Unanswered Representations & Complete Fact-Sheet Table

Monday’s Collectorate protest was the culmination of an eight-month-long administrative effort by residents of both villages. As detailed by the protestors, they had approached the authorities twice in 2025 with hundreds of signatures:

• First Formal Memorandum (February 12, 2025): More than 200 residents of Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda visited the Udaipur District Collectorate and submitted a detailed proposal requesting the constitution of a new Gram Panchayat by combining the two revenue villages.
• Second Formal Objection & Representation (April 17, 2025): During the official window for filing objections on Panchayat delimitation proposals, nearly 300 villagers submitted a fresh representation reiterating their demand and documenting the 8 km distance from Kadiya.
• Third Demonstration & Ultimatum (October 12, 2026): With Panchayat elections approaching and no notification issued yet, villagers marched to the Collectorate declaring, “We no longer want verbal assurances—we want a new Gram Panchayat.”

6. Memorandum to Chief Minister via ADM Deependra Singh Rathore & Poll Boycott Ultimatum

Following the slogan-shouting outside the Collectorate, a representative delegation of villagers met ADM (Administration) Deependra Singh Rathore in his chamber and handed over a comprehensive memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

In the memorandum, the villagers made it clear that their patience has been exhausted after waiting since February 2025. They stated unequivocally that if the state government and district administration fail to notify a separate Gram Panchayat comprising Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda, the 1,206 voters of both revenue villages will collectively boycott voting in all forthcoming elections—including the Panchayati Raj polls, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly elections, and Lok Sabha elections.

7. Community Representatives and Local Leadership Behind the Movement

The demonstration and submission of the memorandum to ADM Deependra Singh Rathore saw broad participation across all communities of Dulawaton Ka Guda and Mataji Ka Kheda. Prominent villagers and community elders present during the representation included:

• Gopal Paliwal
• Ramsingh Dulawat
• Bhursingh Dulawat
• Himmat Singh Dulawat
• Kundan Singh
• Mana Ram Gameti
• Noja Ram Gameti
• Ratan Lal Meghwal
• Manohar Singh, along with scores of residents from both revenue villages.

District officials received the memorandum and assured the delegation that their representation and demographic comparison would be forwarded to the state Panchayati Raj Department and higher authorities for review.

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