Punjab Government wants its village panchayats to come forward to educate the villagers to cut down on the surplus expenditure at marriages.
“Panchayats of all the villages in Punjab ought to aware villagers about the surplus expenses made during the marriages and other celebrations and get down to the task with missionary zeal,” said the state Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Sikander Singh Maluka on Monday.
He said that the main reason of villagers facing the financial crunch, is surplus and unwanted expenses incurred during solemnizing marriages and other social functions just to uphold their prestige in society.
“Panchayats should come forward to change the mentality of the people residing especially in rural areas, so that many social ills owing their origin due to wasteful expenditure can be controlled,” he said.
Maluka said that the Panchayats are fully empowered to take decisions for the overall development of villages. “Panchayats have to act inquisitively for disseminating the information regarding the welfare schemes run by Government,” he said.
He suggested that the Panchayats can accomplish the task by organizing seminars time-to-time, so that maximum villagers can take advantage of those schemes.
Appreciating the work done by various Panchayats, Maluka said that with the constructive steps taken by Panchayats, the problem of drug abuse and other social evils have been controlled.
He told Panchayats to select developmental projects on priority basis during the Gram Sabha meetings so that the accurate picture of the developmental project can be sought.
Exhorting the Panchayats to make villagers aware to keep their surroundings clean, he said that in such villages, where there are no toilets, Panchayats should guide them about initiatives undertaken by the government to construct toilets in their homes.
To safeguard environment, open places in the villages need to be filled by planting more tress so that the effect of pollution can be reduced, he said.
He asked Panchayats to come forward to repair roads, sewerage, cleaning of ponds and beautification of the village. Panchayats can increase their income sources by turning village ponds into fish farming ponds, he added.