Amid AAP's dipping fortunes, this Sangrur village stands firm behind party

SANGRUR: Located on the outskirts of Sangrur , Ghrachon village has emerged as a laboratory for AAP’s model of development through local self governance. Thus even as the party’s graph has nosedived in Punjab since the last Lok Sabha election in 2014, it seems to have gone from strength to strength here. The newly-elected sarpanch of the village is an AAP volunteer and so are most members of the block samiti.

The village, which falls in Bhawanigarh Tehsil, was given a new identity by its youth club – Shaheed Bhagat Singh Awareness Club, which caught the eye of local AAP MP Bhagwant Mann. “We campaigned for Mann and since then he has launched most of the flagship programmes of the party, including the campaign against hefty power bills from this village,” said Gurvinder Singh, whose mother Jaswinder Kaur is also a block samiti member.

The village stands out for its bus stand, which has a newly-constructed library right opposite it. The bus stops have series of benches and the village also has the distinction of having toilets for ladies, ROs and smart classrooms. To check crime, closed-circuit cameras are being installed in the area. Most of the projects have been implemented with MP local area development (MPLAD) funds given by Mann.

“I have been open to providing assistance to any good developmental project. In this village it was a young sarpanch who took the initiative. The design of the bus stand is being replicated in other villages too. Earlier, the sarpanch was becoming hurdle to development but now the youth have been elected to the panchayat. I sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for the library,” said Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann.

But the village is still struggling with other issues. Locals residents complain that the underground water in the area is getting contaminated due to factories in the area and cases of cancer have been growing.

The village has, however, managed to defy the state-wide trend against AAP. The party’s fortunes have witnessed a dip in Punjab and after winning 20 seats in the last assembly elections in 2017, it has lost six elections, including four corporations, Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll and later Shahkot assembly byelection. In 2014, however, Punjab was the only state where AAP had managed to win four Lok Sabha seats.

35-yr-old MBA sarpanch still gives tuitions

Recently-elected sarpanch of the Ghrachon village Gurmail Singh is an MBA. He also has a masters in mathematics. Dressed in denims, the 35-year-old politician, who was a teacher till last year, still gives tuitions in mathematics to children in the village.

“The principles of management come in handy when I am taking decisions about the village. For instances, when we planned to put up solar lights in the area, we decided to use old poles to safe resources. Once the panchayat starts getting funds, we will move ahead with smart classrooms and CCTV cameras,” he said.

“I started with the awareness club and then got in touch with AAP leaders. Till a fortnight before the election for sarpanch’s post, I was working as a school teacher. I preferred teaching over management. Even now, I teach mathematics to students in the evenings,” he said.