Aam Aadmi Party alleges neglect of sarpanches, panches in Punjab; seeks hike in honorarium

Aam Aadmi Party Punjab president Bhagwant Mann accuses the Congress government in Punjab of neither honouring nor giving honorarium to sarpanches and panches

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president and MP Bhagwant Mann on Thursday accused the Congress government in Punjab of neither honouring nor giving honorarium to sarpanches and panches even as it was putting a huge burden on the state exchequer by giving new cars and other allowances to ministers and officials.

Aam Aadmi Party Punjab president Bhagwant Mann says on the other hand the heads and members of municipal councils and municipal corporations were being given monthly honorarium, meeting attendance allowance and mobile expenses.

Mann demanded that the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government should immediately pay monthly honorarium of at least ₹25,000 to a sarpanch and ₹10,000 to a panch.

The state government was to give honorarium of ₹1,200 per month to sarpanches but even this meager allowance was not received by them for the last three years, he said in a statement.

He said on the other hand the heads and members of municipal councils and municipal corporations were being given monthly honorarium, meeting attendance allowance and mobile expenses.

Party MLA Aman Arora also demanded regularisation of outsourced computer operators and nodal complaint centre employees, who have been working in powercom for the last eight years. They were being paid salary of ₹10,000 a month and their financial condition was not good, he said, accusing the successive SAD and Congress governments of neglecting them.