Punjab Minister Harpal Cheema asks panchayats to make villages drug-free

Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday administered the oath of office to 2,490 panches of 318 villages of Bathinda district at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Multipurpose Sports Stadium. Later, he also administered oath to 1,863 panches in Mansa district.

Cheema congratulated the district administrations for conducting elections in a fair and transparent manner. He urged panches to ensure proper utilisation of government grants. If panches and sarpanches performed their duties well, they could change the destiny of their villages, he added. After reviewing panchayats’ performance, Rs 5 lakh special grant would be given to them, he announced.

The minister called for uprooting the scourge of drugs from the state. With the active role of the panches and sarpanches, Punjab would soon be a drug-free state, he said. He emphasised that a panchayat could play an important role in the all-round development of the village only if every decision was taken in consultation with villagers.