Elected sarpanches wait for swearing-in ceremony, and some swag
“Election jitt gaye par taur ohdo banu jadon sarkaar sarpanchi de kagaz dau (I won the elections but the swag will be there when the government makes us sarpanch officially)”, said Bhupinder Singh elected from Jalalpur village .
Hundreds of elected sarpanches and panches, elected on October 15 and 16, rue that the government is yet to intimate them in writing about the swearing-in ceremony following which they would get the powers to oversee and decide the development works in their respective villages.
Control over resources, grants
After swearing-in, the sarpanch gets control over village resources and grants issued by the government. At the grassroots level, a sarpanch is the direct connection between the government and the village
“You can see how the elections were fiercely contested to be the sarpanch of a village. People made big announcements for it and even offered lakhs of rupees for being a unanimous sarpanch. For many in Punjab being a sarpanch is a matter of pride, for some it is to be in power or to be a leader,” said Gurnam Singh, elected from Devinagar (Rarha) village . “But it’s been over 10 days and we are not informed about the oath-taking ceremony, leave aside getting the charge officially”, he said.
The total percentage of votes polled during the panchayat elections for 13,229 villages of the state was 77. Though the elections were not contested on party symbols, all parties backed their supporters with their (political) might.
“I really wanted to celebrate this Diwali as a sarpanch officially, but it seems the government is not that keen to ensure development works through us”, said Gurmail Singh of Rampur village in Sangrur.
In Jalandhar, another sarpanch who was elected, says officially they will take up “sarpanch” post after the bypolls. In the Zira segment, a sarpanch said he had already started working at his own level but real development works would happen when he gets the official records after oath.
In 2019, during the last panchayat polls, the Punjab Government held the oath-taking ceremonies for the newly elected sarpanches and panches of over 13,000 villages in less than a fortnight. District-level programmes were held across the state where all sarpanches got personally signed letters by the CM congratulating them. During the SAD-BJP regime too, such functions were organised in batches by clubbing districts, and were attended by then CM Parkash Singh Badal.
In this regard, Punjab Youth Congress president Mohit Mohindra said he would write to CM Bhagwant Mann “to immediately administer oaths to newly elected sarpanches and panches”. “The government should also release Rs 5 lakh special grant to 1,172 panchayats elected unanimously as was promised by it in run up to these polls”, he claimed.
Punjab Mandi Board Chairman Harchand Singh Barsat said: “Maximum sarpanches are from their party and thus the suggestion came from them to hold the swearing-in ceremony after the paddy season”. “We will soon hold an oath-taking event where all sarpanches would be duly invited. There is no deliberate delay”, he said, adding the money for unanimous panchayats would also be released soon.
Unofficially, the sarpanch is the first link between the local MLA and the grants and money that flow through the system. “The sarpanch is responsible for the overall development of the village and plays a key role in providing basic services vital for the health and well-being of rural people, like, drinking water and sanitation. However, we can hand them official records only after they are sworn in and a notification regarding the same is issued”, said a Deputy Commissioner posted in the Doaba region.
