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Tribune News Service
Kila Raipur, January 11
Punjab Cabinet Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, encouraged the newly elected panchayat members to perform their duties with dedication and focus on weeding out the drug menace and corruption.
He administered oath to newly elected panches, sapranches, members of the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad during a district-level function at Sports Stadium here on Friday.
Around 7,500 newly elected members were called for swearing-in ceremony. Addressing the gathering. Bajwa said the Congress-led state government has zero tolerance for corruption.
Bajwa urged them to work wholeheartedly for the development of their villages, which would ultimately lead to the overall development of the state. He asked them to visit some of the model villages such as Seechewal, which is being nurtured by world renowned environmentalist Sant Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal and work on ways to save the environment as well. He urged them to work in a transparent manner so that the funds given for development were utilised properly. He assured them that there was no shortage of funds with the state government when it comes to development. He said the first instalment of Rs 24 crore for the development of villages would reach the district administration in the next few days. He urged the government and police officials to respect the panches and sarpanches.
He said very soon, all villages of the state would have proper sewerage and other basic amenities. He urged the elected representatives to focus on areas where people from economically weaker sections of society reside. He said they should make full use of the MGNREGA scheme for carrying out development projects in their respective villages/areas.
Bajwa said to check corruption at any level, people should use social media platforms such as WhatsApp in a positive manner. He advised the BDPOs not to ignore MGNREGA. CCTV cameras must be installed at villages, he said
Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said to check corruption, the state government was keeping a close watch on the activities of all elected representatives and government officials. He urged all elected representatives to make sure that public funds are utilised in effective manner.
MLA seeks more authority
Gurkirat Singh Kotli, MLA from Khanna, demanded from the Cabinet Minister to give more powers to sarpanches and panches so that no cop visits any village without permission of the sarpanch concerned. He favoured that elected members of panchayat must be given more powers. Meanwhile, some other Congress leaders also demanded more authority to elected panchayat members.
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