CHANDIGARH: With panchayat polls to be announced any time now in the state, the Punjab cabinet today amended the Punjab Panchayat Rules, debarring the candidates to contest panchayat elections for sarpanch and panch on party symbols.
The state cabinet today gave the nod to amend Rule 12 of the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules 1994 thereby debarring the candidates to contest elections of Panchayati Raj Institutions on party symbols.
The cabinet observed that contesting elections on party symbols leads to many unwanted incidents. Further, Political groups in Panchayats stall the utilization of funds and grants leaving huge amounts of unused money, which can be duly used to promote development in rural areas.
The political groupism also causes disunity in the working of Panchayats which leads to their incomplete quorum thereby leading to non-utilization of grants. Also, political affiliations of panchayat members create instances of violent clashes during and after elections among various party groups at village level which deteriorates the law and order situation and also adversely affects the social fabric of rural society.
State Finance Minister, Harpal Singh Cheema said this decision was today taken in the cabinet meeting to ensure that voters in villages were not divided along political lines. "An amendment to Section 12 of the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules has been approved by the cabinet. It will now be tabled in the upcoming assembly session for final approval which is scheduled to begin next week,’’ he said.
Generally, the panchayat elections in the state are not contested on party symbols. But under the provisions of the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules, candidates can inform the State Election Commission about the party they belong to and can seek allotment of the party’s symbol. In that case, the party symbol is allotted to candidates.
The elections to 13,241 panchayats in Punjab are expected to be announced any time now.
To provide more employment opportunities for the youth and to enhance the administrative efficiency of state government in larger public interest, the cabinet also gave approval to enhance the strength of Punjab Civil Services (Executive Branch) cadres from existing 310 posts to 369 posts.
This decision has been taken in view of the administrative requirements and increase in the number of Sub Divisions and creation of a new district. Pertinently, this review has been done after a period of more than eight years and will pave the way for enhancing the posts at the level of Joint Secretary in Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chief Minister’s Field Officers (Earlier AC Grievances), Sub Divisional Magistrates, EM Cum Protocol Officers, ADC (UD), Directors, Mission Director in Field and others.
The cabinet also gave a nod for the construction of ponds along the Ghaggar river in Chandu village to recharge the groundwater. The ponds can be filled up with the river Ghaggar during flood times and through the canals during the normal times so as to utilize the water of the Punjab share judiciously. This will help to recharge the groundwater table and at the same time, the farmers in the adjoining areas can utilize this water for irrigation purposes also.