Man who aided villagers during floods becomes sarpanch

A good samaritan who aided many Sultanpur villages during last year's floods has been elected as a sarpanch tenure this time.

With their own house in the midst of a deluge, as their village battled the ravages of the 2023 Beas floods, brothers Gurmeet Singh and Paramjit Singh's motorboats proved a lifeline for Sultanpur Lodhi's flooded villages. They ensured sustenance for villagers and ferried others to safety. The younger of the two, Gurmeet Singh (36), was elected the sarpanch of Baupur Jadid village on Tuesday.

Gurmeet has been rewarded for his untiring help and aid to villagers during the floods. Winning by four votes, Gurmeet has been elected sarpanch of the village for the second time. His previous tenure was from 2019 to 2023. While the island village of Baupur Jadid (flanked by water bodies on two sides) has a total of 270 votes, 250 votes were polled and 11 were rejected.

The duo, progressive farmers and advocates of sustainable farming, have also been managing stubble without burning it long before the government decided to focus on the problem. Due to their efforts, other residents of the village also began refraining from burning stubble.

In the 2023 floods, their house turned into a makeshift relief camp for the flood-hit villagers, as all important essentials, medicines, rations, etc. were provided by them. Houses of most of the villagers were either flooded or surrounded with water.

Baupur Jadid village was among the worst affected areas. The brothers' "Agan-boats" (motorboats) also aided people across neighbouring villages too.

Gurmeet's previous tenure as sarpanch was also marked with progress, including roads, interlocking tiles, and revamping the village shamshan ghat (cremation grounds), among other development projects.

Gurmeet said, "I am thankful for the people for placing their trust in me. The community has been the foundation of our society. Our area has been ravaged by repeated floods. The resilience of farmers is what keeps them going from the 1992 floods onwards to 2005, 2017, 2019, and 2023. We all stood together."

Gurmeet’s brother, Paramjit, said, "This election was very tightly contested, and there was great factionalism. But my brother worked very hard for the village. When he became sarpanch last time, there were roads where people waded through ankle-deep mire to reach destinations. The cremation ground was in a deplorable condition. From concretisation of roads to laying interlocking tiles and ensuring quality facilities for people at the cremation ground, he did a lot of work."

Even though factionalism marked the elections, Gurmeet expressed happiness about the trust people placed in him.