Chandigarh, Apr 24 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday sought support of village panchayats for his government’s ongoing anti-drug drive ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virush’ and announced financial assistance for villages declared as “drug free”.

Mann further promised to develop these villages into model villages and also announced to hike honorarium for ‘Sarpanchs’ (village heads) to Rs 2,000 per month.

He was addressing a gathering during the state-level function to mark ‘Panchayat Diwas’ here.

A village that will declare itself “drug-free” will be given financial assistance worth Rs 1 lakh, besides other ultra-modern facilities, Mann said.

Drug free villages will be developed as model villages and no stone will be left unturned to give fillip to their development, he said.

He asked village ‘Sarpanchs’ to play a proactive role in this noble cause so that the scourge of drugs is wiped out from the state with active public support.

Mann said the state government will not sit idly and watch smugglers bloom at the cost of bodies and pyres of drug victims.

The state government has already snapped the supply line of drugs and big fish involved in this heinous crime have been put behind bars, the chief minister said.

For the first time, the property of the drug smugglers acquired illegally is being destroyed by the state government so that it acts as a deterrent for others, he added.

Meanwhile, Mann announced that Sarpanches would be given an honorarium worth Rs 2,000 per month starting from the day they were elected.

Earlier his predecessors had promised Rs 1,200 as honorarium but that decision never saw the light of the day, he said.

Village panchayats are the most significant organ of the democratic system which has been instrumental in transformation of the rural areas. They are known as ‘foundations of democracy’ and play a major role in implementing the policies of the state government at the ground level.

He reiterated that the state government is committed to extend all possible support and cooperation to the Sarpanchs as they played a pro-active role in the process of overall rural development.

They are the real eyes and ears of the state government as they are well connected with the masses at ground level, he said.

He said that it is very unfortunate that several works in villages are jeopardised due to widespread groupism in the villages. Sarpanchs must accord top priority to abolish groupism in villages. PTI CHS HIG HIG