Panchayats against GoG’s ‘interference’ in development works

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, February 3

About two years after the state government introduced the Guardians of Governance (GoG) scheme for the effective implementation of various government schemes and to check corruption, members of the Punjab Panchayats’ Union, Faridkot, on Monday met Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, urging him to stop the interference of the GoG.

Alleging that the GoG was making unnecessary interference in the execution of various developments works and was leading to a delay in the completion of these works in rural areas, the union members gave a representation to the minister during his visit to Faridkot on Monday.

Introducing the GoG scheme about two years ago, the state government had engaged ex-servicemen, asking them to act as the eyes and ears of the Chief Minister in the effective implementation of various government schemes, particularly in rural areas, while ensuring that there is no leakage of funds, harassment of commoners and unnecessary bottlenecks. A Lieutenant-General (retd), who is a senior adviser to Punjab CM, is the chairman of the GoG.

Earlier in its election manifesto in January 2017, the state Congress had announced to launch a department of Guardians of Governance. This is a group of ex-servicemen from panchayats to blocks to districts, right up to the Chief Minister. This is a disciplined force, going to hopefully check the misuse of funds, the party had announced in its manifesto.

The department is under the CM and Guardians of Governance are to report to the CM about the implementation of various schemes.

However, two years down the line, many panchayats alleged that the GoG members were making unnecessary interference in their work. We have urged the minister to stop the interference of the GoG members in development works in rural areas, said Gurshwinder Singh, district president of the Faridkot unit of Punjab Panchayat Union.

Other than raising the GoG issue, the sarpanches urged the minister to provide independent labour wages to the panchayats for the execution of various development works at the village level. “At present, the state government has made it mandatory that for the execution of all development works in rural areas, the panchayats have to rely on the MGNREGA scheme to get skilled and unskilled labour,” said Gurshwinder Singh.

The members said, “Mostly, we face difficulty in getting the labour under the MGNREGA scheme due to delayed payment of wages and it was a big hurdle in the timely start and finishing of the work.”

They have also demanded an increase in allowances of the sarpanches, Rs 10,000 per month for sarpanches and Rs 5,000 for panches. They urged the minister to check the unwarranted interference of bureaucrats in their work and delay in releasing the grants.