10K sarpanches of 19 districts to take oath today

A total of 10,031 recently elected sarpanches of 19 districts will take oath tomorrow at Cycle Valley, Dhanansu village in Ludhiana. AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will also be present at the event where Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will administer oath of office to the sarpanches

The Mann-led government said it was the first of its kind function being organised to strengthen the democracy at grassroots. However, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, “The state government has created hype about the event and wasting money. The panchayats and civic bodies have not received even a single paise grant. Most link roads in villages are in a dilapidated condition.”

In the Panchayat poll, a total of 13,147 sarpanches were elected in 23 districts of the state. The oath-taking ceremony of sarpanches of four districts — Muktsar, Hoshiarpur, Barnala and Gurdaspur — and of 81,808 panches would be held after the byelections of Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak.