Panchayats’ dissolution issue: Mann acted like a ‘coward’, should resign: Sukhbir Badal
On August 31, the Punjab government told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it was withdrawing an August 10 notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar acted like a “coward” by making IAS officers “scapegoat” for their decision to dissolve all gram panchayats in the state.

“The fact is that the entire process of dissolution of panchayats, (which was) to be followed by election, was initiated, piloted and signed by Bhagwant Mann through the concerned minister. The IAS officers had merely presented the concerned file for perusal and necessary orders by the chief minister. The officers had specifically noted on the file itself that it was being sent as desired by the chief minister,” the Akali Dal leader claimed.
On August 31, the Punjab government told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it was withdrawing an August 10 notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state.
Hours later, the government suspended two IAS officers — rural development and panchayats principal secretary Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari and rural development and panchayats director Gurpreet Singh Khaira — with immediate effect for taking a “technically flawed” decision on the dissolution of panchayats.
Asserting that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was looting the state exchequer to fund the party’s campaign nationwide, Badal said ₹750-crore annual advertising budget is being used for this purpose only. He said in stark contrast, the government had released a paltry ₹186 crore to farmers as compensation for the destruction of their paddy crop when the damage had been pegged at ₹10,000 crore.
Speaking over the recent tussle between the governor and the chief minister, Sukhbir said the genesis of the problem lies in the fact that the chief minister had not heeded the report of the governor that drugs were being sold from liquor vends. He said when the government did not take any action in the case, the governor forwarded the case to the Narcotics Control Bureau, which sealed 66 liquor vends after recovery of synthetic drugs from them. “These liquor vends have subsequently been reopened under the same management which speaks volumes about the patronage being given to drug mafia by the AAP government.”
The SAD president said Punjab was going back by decades due to the incompetence of the AAP government, while citing the flight of industry from the state to Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country.
