Unanimously elected panchayats to receive a special grant of ₹5 lakh, announces Punjab Chief Minister Mann

Emphasising the need to maintain brotherhood and bonhomie, Mann said that the elections were critically important for development.

Published Aug 22, 2023 | 2:17 PMUpdated Aug 22, 2023 | 2:17 PM

Mann

In a major decision for the holistic development of villages in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced a special grant of ₹5 lakh to unanimously elected panchayats under Mukh Mantri Pind Ekta Sanman.

Emphasising the need to maintain brotherhood and bonhomie in panchayat elections, Mann said that these elections were critically important for the development of the villages.

He said the state government announced to an extension of the special grant to the villages which would elect sarpanch and panches unanimously.

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‘To root out political acrimony’

He said that this decision would set the trend to elect their representative unanimously across the state and root out the political acrimony from the grassroots level.

“Sarpanch is the real leader of the entire village not for one particular section so they should act as the leader of the village. People should put aside their political differences and elect their panchayat representatives unanimously in the coming elections so that the ethos of brotherhood and harmony could be further strengthened”, Mann said.

“Successive governments used these elections as the tool to create factionalism among villagers to gain political mileage but in the end, the villages have to bear the consequences. I am confident that the maximum number of villages will exploit this monetary assistance opportunity with the implementation of this decision and put their villages on a high growth trajectory”, he further added.

Mann also announced that every possible effort would be made to keep these elections free from political spheres.

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‘To ensure overall development’

He said that the purpose of this decision is to create a congenial atmosphere during Panchayat elections and ensure the overall development of every nook and corner of the villages.

The Punjab government recently dissolved all of the over 13,000 panchayats in the state, paving the way for civic body elections.

Punjab has 13,241 gram panchayats, 153 panchayat samities and 23 zila parishads. According to the government notification, the general election of the members of the panchayat samitis and the zila parishads shall be held by the 25 November, 2023 and the gram panchayats shall be held by the 31 December, 2023.

It may be noted that the dissolution of panchayats has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Punjab government has been asked to reply by 28 August.

Meanwhile, AAP has achieved a significant milestone in Punjab ahead of the Panchayat elections as party loyalist Baljit Channi was unanimously elected Mayor of Moga Municipal Corporation supported by 42 corporators, 32 from AAP and 10 from other parties. Channi will be the first Mayor of AAP in the state.

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