Panchayat refuses to take govt's Rs 22-lakh grant

It was an embarrassing moment for chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at the sangat darshan here on Wednesday when Rahimpur village panchayat refused to accept grant of Rs 22 lakh, saying the estimates of panchayat and rural development department had recommended Rs 1.05 crore for various works. Rahimpur panchayat, led by sarpanch Harpreet Pal Singh, said they were not ready to accept the grant which was just one fifth of what the department had recommended. While Badal and other officials, in the presence of Nakodar MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala, insisted that they could not be given Rs 1.05 crore the panchayat members walked out of the meeting hall. The panchayat also submitted a memorandum to the CM, saying 55-60 % votes of the village had been polled to Shiromani Akali Dal, and if they did not get the genuinely required funds for different works then they would feel that it was a mistake to vote for the ruling party. The memo was signed by the sarpanch and the panchayat members.