Bathinda: With Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann recently announcing a special grant of Rs 5 lakh for the unanimously elected panchayat in the upcoming local body elections, locals in a village in Bathinda have held a bid to vie for the Sarpanch post in the village. A large gathering was held at village Kotbhara in Bathinda regarding the Sarb Samiti.
During this meeting, where the development work of the village was discussed, there was a bid of lakhs of rupees for the Sarpanch post. During the gathering, Manpreet Singh, a local resident of Kotbhara, made the highest bid of Rs 30 lakh for the post of sarpanch. A video of the gathering has also gone viral on social media.
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Asked how will he spend the money, Manpreet replied that he would spend the money on the ongoing development works of the village. Manpreet further said that the development work has stopped for the last ten years. The gathering at the village comes close to the heels of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann's announcement that a special Rs 5 lakh grant will be given for the unanimously elected panchayats in the local body election scheduled to be held in November this year.
Earlier this month, the Bhagwant Mann led AAP government in Punjab dissolved all gram panchayats, zilla parishads and panchayat samitis with immediate effect thereby paving the way for local body elections. In a notification issued in this regard, D K Tiwari, principal secretary (rural development and panchayats) said, “Under powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 209 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (Punjab Act 9 of 1994), and all other powers enabling him in this behalf, the Governor of Punjab is pleased to direct that the general election of the members of the (i) the Panchayat Samitis and the Zila Parishads, shall be held by the 25th November, 2023; and (ii) the Gram Panchayats, shall be held by the 31st December, 2023”.
