04-07-2025
Gujarat CM felicitates newly elected sarpanches, warns them against being misguided towards corruption
Stressing that the state government has a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel Friday warned the newly elected Sarpanches and members of the gram panchayats in Gujarat against graft, asking them to guard against 'being misguided by anybody'.
Addressing a function in Gandhinagar to felicitate the newly elected Sarpanches and members of gram panchayats, the CM said, 'The governments of the state and Centre allocate sufficient money for the development of villages. Today, by allocating a grant of Rs 1,236 to the gram panchayats, (the government has) attained the resolve of fulfilling what is promised. This money, Rs 1,236 crore, too, will go to the accounts of you all.'
He further said, 'Since I have talked about money, let me tell you that it is not worth it to run after money. Else, you know that there is zero tolerance currently… No one has been spared once caught and no one will be spared in the future as well. All of you are new, so you should be careful that nobody misguides you.'
Referring to the recently held elections of gram panchayats, the CM said that they have broken all the records.
'As per the information I have, this time, the number of Sarpanches in the age group of 21-40 is 42%. Among them, the number of Sarpanches below the age of 30 are 616 while 1,341 of them are between the age of 31 and 40. As many as 1,337 Sarpanches are between the ages of 41 and 50, while 1,326 are above 50 years old… And one of them, sitting here, has done Ph D,' CM Patel said.
In May, the Gujarat State Election Commission had declared elections to 4,564 gram panchayats in the state. Out of them, 761 have emerged as Samras Gram Panchayats where the villagers chose their Sarpanch and ward members through consensus; 56 of them are Mahila Samras Gram Panchayats.
On Friday, as the newly elected Sarpanches and ward members were felicitated, the CM also disbursed over Rs 35 crore to the Samras Gram Panchayats for village development.
On the occasion, the CM announced a decision of the government to double the allocation of funds for cleanliness in villages. He said that the allocation of Rs 4 per person for cleanliness in a village has been hiked to Rs 4 per person.
Held at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar, the function was also attended by Union Minister for Jal Shakti and Gujarat BJP Chief C R Paatil, Rural Development ministers Raghavji Patel and Kunvarji Halpati, among others.
Addressing the function, Paatil asked the newly elected Sarpanches and panchayat members to take up the responsibility of cleanliness and water conservation in their respective villages. Paatil said through water conservation, his ministry wants to bring out 150 districts of the country from the tag of dark zones.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister for Jal Shakti C R Paatil also inaugurated a Solar Frame Plant of a private company, H&H Aluminium Private Limited, in Rajkot. Paatil virtually inaugurated the plant from a function in Ahmedabad. Addressing the gathering, Paatil called upon the industries to come forward in complementing the government's efforts towards water conservation by recharging the groundwater level.
