Ludhiana woman sarpanch dismissed for letting husband take lead in panchayat works
Director rural development and panchayat Gurpreet Singh Khaira earlier this week dismissed Paramjit Kaur, sarpanch of Rattowal village of Block Sudhar in Ludhiana
The woman sarpanch of Rattowal village in Ludhiana district had to pay a heavy price for letting her husband portray himself as the village head not only in day-to-day works but also letting him engrave his name on inaugural stones of government projects.
Director rural development and panchayat Gurpreet Singh Khaira earlier this week dismissed Paramjit Kaur, sarpanch of Rattowal village of Block Sudhar in Ludhiana.
The director also ordered seizure of the bank account of the sarpanch.
She has also been asked to handover all the records, assets, and funds of the panchayat to one of the member panchayat, whose name would be proposed as a decision-maker of the village by other panchayat members.
The woman’s husband Jagdeep Singh had started portraying himself as sarpanch of the village, often interfering with her work and publicly announcing himself as the main decision maker.
He even went ahead and authorised several projects, including construction of a road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The villagers noticed Jagdeep’s intrusion and lodged a complaint with the authorities in this regard.
Panchayat secretary Harbhajan Singh sent a report to block development and panchayat officer, Sudhar about the intrusion. He said that being a sarpanch of the village, the woman should deter her husband, but she did not.
The department sent a notice to sarpanch Paramjit Kaur to file a reply in 15 days. The sarpanch in her reply had refuted the allegations and appealed to dispose of the complaint.
She was served notices on March 13, 20 and 22 to appear before the authorities, but she did not appear.
The incident has highlighted the need for gender sensitive policies and for women empowerment in the rural area.
Amarjeet Singh, a local, said that it is high time that we recognise and value the contributions of women in governance and society at large.
Advocate Inderjit Kaur, who is also a women activist, said that majority of women councillors in urban areas used to get the tickets to contest elections from reserve ward on behalf of their husbands or other male members of the family. Their husbands used to accompany them to the house meetings and even in the routine work of the ward, which should be stopped immediately. If a woman has been elected, they should be given space to perform.
