Litter at oath ceremony; people fume

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 11

As many as 860 sarpanches, 5,628 panches, nine panchayat samiti and 25 zila parishad members took oath in presence of Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Friday. After the ceremony, the venue wore a shabby look as the crowd had left a considerable litter in Ranjit Avenue, much to the chagrin of local residents.

Residents of the posh locality, who hit out at the organisers and the participants for showing scant regard to cleanliness and hygiene, said the organisers should have made arrangements to clean the area.

Meanwhile, Randhawa called upon the elected women leaders to perform their duties with distinction. He also urged others to provide women leaders a conducive working environment. He called upon elected village heads to rise above party politics and work for the overall development of their villages. He exhorted them to ensure delivery of services like Atta-Dal to needy, medical care to patients besides ensuring education of children in their villages.

He directed the rural police head to ensure that every SHO must have contact numbers of sarpaches so that they could get reliable inputs. He informed that in order to strengthen the cooperative movement, the government would invest Rs 100 crore to upgrade Milk Plant Verka.

In his address, Deputy Commissioner KS Sangha said that 159 plagrounds and 50 parks were set up under the MNREGA. Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Santokh Singh Bhalaipur, Tarsem Singh DC, Sunil Dutti and senior Congress leader Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli Majithia also addressed the gathering.