Municipal Councillor Who Has Fixed One Pothole In Six Years Would Like The Award For Best Ward Development And Also For You To Stop Bringing Up The Other Potholes

LUDHIANA — The pothole was fixed on August 14, 2021. Sukhwinder Singh, Ward 14 Councillor, stands at the location of this historical achievement and can recall, with the precision of a man narrating the Battle of Panipat, every detail of that Tuesday. The weather. The crew. The machine. The time of day. The size of the pothole — which Sukhwinder describes as "bahut bada" (very large) but which eyewitnesses, including three residents and a dog of the area, remember as medium at most. The patch cost ₹14,000 from the ward development fund. The contractor was Sukhwinder's wife's cousin's husband. The invoice said "emergency road restoration." The emergency was that there was a pothole. The restoration was that a cousin fixed it. The invoice was approved the same week. The system, for cousins, is wonderfully efficient.

In the five years since the pothole, Sukhwinder has mentioned it at: four Diwali functions, two Holi events, one ward-level Independence Day ceremony, eight area sabhas, three wedding receptions he attended as a dignitary, one funeral where he somehow worked it into his condolence remarks, and a video he posted on Facebook for his ward anniversary that received 234 views, 29 likes, and a comment from his sister-in-law that said "Bahut badhiya Bhaiya ji ." The pothole has since reopened. It opened in the 2022 monsoon. It is now, by local measurement, larger than its original size. Sukhwinder has not mentioned its reopening at any function. The Facebook page has not been updated.

The ward development fund allocation for 2022–23 is a document of extraordinary creativity. ₹2.3 lakh: road repairs (one pothole, cousin's husband, same cousin). ₹1.8 lakh: "Ward Beautification Project" — this is six terracotta pots with marigolds planted outside Sukhwinder's ward office/front room. They are watered by Sukhwinder's son. They look nice. They serve no public infrastructure function. ₹4.1 lakh: "Community Cultural Programme" — a stage, a speaker system, a performance, and a dinner where Sukhwinder gave a 47-minute speech about the one pothole, the flower pots, and his vision for Ward 14's future, which involves more events of this type. ₹60,000: "Signage and Communication" — new banners with Sukhwinder's photograph and the ward development fund logo and the text "Ward 14: Progress Under Sukhwinder Singh Ji." The photographs on the banners are better quality than any infrastructure Ward 14 has received.

He was re-elected in 2024 with 63% of the vote. His opponent received 29% and ran on a platform of "actual infrastructure delivery." The 23 outstanding complaints were part of his opponent's campaign material. Sukhwinder responded by distributing blankets in December 2023 and holding two "public darbar" events where he received complaints personally and promised swift action. The action has been swift in the sense that Sukhwinder moved quickly from one seat to the next at the darbar. The complaints have not been resolved. He is now in his second term. The flower pots are still there. They have been replanted twice. They continue to be the most maintained public feature of Ward 14. They are beautiful. The roads are not. The residents have accepted this arrangement with the philosophy of a people who have voted for it twice and have concluded that the pots are, at minimum, predictable.