Rangian not dependent on grants for development

Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, Feb 12

Rangian village in Dehlon Block of Ludhiana district has emerged as one of the rare localities where development has kept pace with other localities, without having a source of income of its own.

The facilities and grants available to the civic body are also used very conservatively. Probably, the village is the lone entity in the region which does not claim grants under the MGNREGA scheme.

The village is also known for diminishing burden on government officials by maintaining records at the village level.

Villagers, led by Surjit Singh Baba, said selfless service by youth leaders, led by Parminder Singh Rangi, vice-chairman of Zila Parishad Ludhiana, had facilitated massive development at the village despite the fact the civic body had almost no source of income.

The villagers said unlike other villagers of similar level there was no shamlat (common land) with the civic body and all prosperous families of the village had been sharing expenses on the maintenance of water tank, RO and other services.

Though the SAD government, led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, had provided grants for construction of an elementary school at the village, land measuring 5 bighas was donated by the family of Sardara Singh, former sarpanch.

Parminder claimed the villagers need not run after revenue officials for getting information about their land ownership as copies of all maps had been maintained by him. “Not only do we provide information about the ownership and tenancy of various pieces of land, we have also prepared a draft for division of land among various members of each family,” he said, maintaining that all residents avail of the facility irrespective of their political allegiance. 

Appreciating the role played by office-bearers and activists of various social and religious organisations of the village, Parminder claimed the number of disputes in the village had declined substantially, and most of the cases were settled at the local level.