Hindustan Times: Naushera
(Amritsar): Wednesday, April 10, 2013.
A case was
slapped against him and a Amritsar court issued warrants for his arrest as he
dared to demolish the extended portion of a house that was encroaching onto a
street in his village.
However, this
did not deter Amarjit Singh, 58, the sarpanch of Naushera village from
performing his duties. He even went to court with the relevant papers to
explain that the accusations of using 'abusive' language against a particular
community were baseless. Ultimately the court decided the case in his favour,
but not before giving him a scare.
Backed by his
fellow villagers, irrespective of their political affiliations, Amarjit took up
one scheme after another for the development of the village and for the welfare
of its residents. Blue (Akali) and white (Congress) turbans stood by him as he
took the rounds of government offices and spent nights scanning the revenue
records of his village to identify common village land which he could use for
common welfare of all after freeing it from encroachers.
Ultimately
the hard work of five years paid off, when Naushera was selected for a national
award under the Panchayat Empowerment Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS)
by the union ministry of panchayati raj. Amarjit will be in New Delhi to
receive this award from the Prime Minister on National Panchayat Day
celebrations on April 24.
“I could
never have achieved this without the support of the people of the village. This
award belongs to each and every household of Naushera,” said Amarjit, while
talking to HT in his village on Monday.
Village
garners maximum points :
Of the five
villages of Punjab, which have been selected for this award, Naushera in the
Verka block of Amritsar district garnered the maximum points. Each of the five
selected villages will be given an additional grant of Rs. 5 lakh each by the
union ministry. Naushera got 77 points out of 100. Other villages are
Harnampura in Ludhiana (72 points), Fatehpur
in Jalandhar and Talwandi Bharat in
Gurdaspur (52 points each), and Hakam Singh Wala (40 points).
For the
selection of villages for the award, teams from the sub-divisional level to the
state level conducted periodic inspections. Thereafter a team from the union
panchayati raj ministry visited the village for compilation of the final
report.
Water
supply and sanitation :
Perhaps the
most characteristic feature of the village is the World Bank-sponsored water
supply and sanitation scheme.
The scheme
was launched as a pilot project in this village after Amarjit came forward to
convey to the deputy commissioner that he would get the scheme implemented in
his village. To show his enterprising qualities, the sarpanch was quick to
deposit the 5% share of the village in this Rs. 1.5-crore scheme.
The total
length of the underground water supply and sewerage pipes in the village is 27
kms-the maximum length for any village in the state.
For
population of around 7000, there are 1100 household water connections, 15
community connections including those in schools and three connections at the
three cremation grounds. Besides there are 15 free connections given to those
who cannot afford paying monthly charges.
A committee
headed by Mohinder Singh, a retired school teacher and a village resident
oversees this scheme and is responsible for collecting the monthly rent.
“I have
formed committees in the village and these look after different the projects.
That is why I say it is team work,” said the sarpanch.
RTI rules
on display :
Visit the
community hall on the road leading to the village and a visitor is taken aback
when he or she sees the RTI rules displayed on a notice board.
“Ask us for
any information after depositing the fee and you will have it in no time,” said
the sarpanch.
The community
hall has the latest voters' list on display, besides the list of old age and
widow pensioners and the amount being given to each physically challenged
person in the village. There are six orphans in the village, who also receive a
monthly grant from the panchayat.
A retired
officer of the state audit department, Narinder Singh Dhami, who belongs to the
village, is in-charge of all matters related to finance and the transparency in
panchayat's finances is one of the hallmarks of Naushera.
The village
has two primary, one high school post office, dispensary, aanganwadi and
'patwarkhana', all housed in concrete structures.
Removing
encroachments :
The
commitment of the sarpanch can be judged from the manner in which he took pains
to go through the revenue records for identifying the panchayat land along a
2-km link road. This land had been encroached upon not only by farmers but even
by the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has a radar station on this road.
Thereafter, he took rounds of various government offices and even went to Delhi
for showing the records to the defence ministry and finally got the land freed
from illegal occupation.
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