Seechewal village elects gatka champ as sarpanch

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 17

“Pawan guru paani pita, mata dharat mahat,” is the motto at Seechewal village. With environmental concerns in mind, villagers have chosen music scholar and nine-time gatka gold medallist Tejinder Singh (27) as their sarpanch. It’s the fourth time the village has chosen a sarpanch unanimously.

While the previous two terms saw Rajwant Kaur heading the village, noted environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal was himself the sarpanch before her.

The village is known for its electoral discipline. During the Shahkot bypoll earlier this year, no booth was set up at the village and voting had been started early by Seechewal while the rest of the village followed suit.

For days before Tejinder was chosen, the environmentalist kept exhorting villagers to make a sound judgment in choosing their sarpanch, free of party concerns and groupism. Of the five shortlisted youths, everyone agreed on Tejinder.

Having done MPhil, Tejinder Singh, who is currently doing PhD on “Inter-relation of environment and music”, is the son of a granthi. 

Speaking to The Tribune, he said: “Even among the five of us, the others willingly accorded the responsibility to me. Environment and water are the prime concerns of the village and my aim will be to promote these like Baba ji. We are preparing for the 550th Parkash Utsav in 2019. We will open our homes for visiting devotees.”

Seechewal said, “The young guard is very ably taking up big responsibilities. Tejinder is the most educated of the lot. We wanted to choose a candidate who would stand up for the people.”

Multi-media campaign

Tejinder Singh (27) has been elected sarpanch after environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal ran a campaign titled “Kaun bane pind da sarpanch” for several days seeking villagers’ support and opinion via debates, gatherings (satth) as well as awareness on the community radio channel of the village — Avtar Radio.