Hold gram panchayats in villages to make decision public, Kejriwal tells sarpanches in Punjab

Ludhiana: Former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday gave a clarion call to newly elected sarpanches of Punjab to hold gram panchayats in their respective villages for making every decision in the full public view to ensure transparency in development works.

“It is imperative to ensure optimum utilisation of the public money for the welfare of the public and comprehensive development of the villages,” said Kejriwal, who was the chief guest of a state-level function in which Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann administered the oath of office to 10,031 newly elected sarpanches from across the state here.

The former Chief Minister said the decisions pertaining to the development of villages should be taken in gram sabhas to ensure judicious utilisation of funds. He said, “if sarpanches perform their duty well then they can transform the destiny of the common man and their villages”.

He gave a clarion call to the sarpanches to wipe out the curse of drugs from the state, adding with the proactive role of the sarpanches Punjab would be soon a drug-free state. He said the state government and Punjab Police are committed to this noble cause and no stone would be left unturned for this noble cause.

Kejriwal asked the sarpanches to make every decision after due consultation with villagers, adding they could play a major role in the overall development of the villages.

Meanwhile, in his address, the Punjab Chief Minister congratulated all the sarpanches for their election to the prestigious post. He said in the recently concluded elections for panchayats, 13,147 new panchayats have been elected.

Mann said in today’s state-level function 10,031 sarpanches from 19 districts of Punjab were administered the oath of office.

The Chief Minister said the oath-taking ceremony of other newly elected sarpanches of the remaining four districts -- Muktsar Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Barnala and Gurdaspur, and of 81,808 newly elected panches of 23 districts would be held after the by-elections of four Assembly constituencies -- Giddarbaha, Chabewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak.

He expressed gratitude to the villages that elected panchayats unanimously.

The Chief Minister said it was a matter of pride that the panchayats of 3,037 villages were selected unanimously and Ferozepur district took the lead by selecting 336 panchayats unanimously followed by Gurdaspur (335) and Tarn Taran (334).