IEP Chandigarh, August 4

 Reiterating the firm commitment of state government to compensate people for loss of every single penny due to floods, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday reviewed the progress of ongoing ‘Special Girdawari’ in the state. Chairing a meeting here at his office in Punjab Civil Secretariat I, the Chief Minister said that the Punjab government is duty bound for compensating the people in wake of floods across the state. He said that there is no dearth of funds with the state government for this purpose and every effort will be made to give relief to the flood hit people. Bhagwant Mann said that he had himself took first hand information by visiting the marooned areas of the state and now no stone is being left unturned for giving succour to people of flood affected districts. The Chief Minister said that he has already ordered a special Girdawari to ascertain the loss incurred to people due to floods in the state. He said that the officers have been directed to ensure that the Special Girdawari is completed by August 15 by all means. Bhagwant Mann assured the people that his government will compensate the people for every loss of crop, cattle, house or anything. The Chief Minister said that 1495 villages in the 19 districts of the state have been affected badly by floods. He said that as per the reports 44 people have lost their lives, 22 were injured, 391 houses have been fully damaged and 878 have been partially damaged besides 1277 people were lodged in 159 relief camps during floods. Bhagwant Mann said that In order to compensate these people for loss of every single penny the Special Girdwari will be completed by August 15. Prominent amongst others present on the occasion included Cabinet Minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma and others.

IEP Chandigarh/SAS Nagar, August 4  

        In order to prevent the spread of deadly vector-borne disease, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led from the front to launch the statewide Dengue Prevention Education and Awareness Campaign ‘Har Shukarvaar- Dengue Te Vaar’ (Every Friday- Fight Against Dengue).          Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh accompanied by Director Health Services, SDM Mohali and other District and Medical officials reached village Behlolpur in the SAS Nagar district to kick-start the campaign by visiting door-to-door to sensitise people by showing them the hotspots of Dengue larvae, besides, personally checking if there was the presence of any larvae in or outside of the premises. Apart from visiting various houses in the village, he also checked Village Park, Panchayat Ghar, School and Government Dispensary on the occasion.          “During the visit, existence of dengue larvae was found in almost all the houses in the village, which could lead to the proliferation of mosquito-breeding,” he said, while urging people to spare some time on Friday to keep a check and drain water from all the breeding-grounds such as coolers, scrap material, flower pots, back trays of refrigerators, stored water, etc, where water stagnation could take place.          Later, the Health Minister also released mosquito larvae-eating fish ‘Gambusia’ into the pond to curb the dengue menace. These fishes are known as human friends as they eat the larvae to stop breeding of mosquitos, he said.          Pertinently, the ‘Gambusia’ fish was brought by the health teams to show it to the common public for awareness purposes. These fish are available with the health department and anyone can get them free of cost for putting in ponds, lakes, etc near their houses.          Dr Balbir Singh, while addressing the villagers, expressed concern over the Dengue factories owned by the residents in their homes and other premises. Generally, we take things lightly but when it becomes a threat to life then we take precautions, he said, while exhorting residents to not to allow stagnation of water anywhere near their places.          “We should observe Friday as a dry day, which means we have to drain out/flush out the stagnant water to stop the breeding of dengue larvae, which takes a week to mature into a mosquito,” he said.       He exhorted the village health and sanitation committees, Panchayats and School Teachers to spread maximum awareness to save people from this deadly disease. He asked them to visit every household in their village and educate the residents of probable dengue factories they, inadvertently, have in their places. “We will reward and honour such crusaders, who will sensitise people about the harms of dengue larvae,” he said.          Meanwhile, the Minister also inspected the water tanks of the School, Health and Wellness Center in the village and directed the concerned officials to take care of the stagnant water and leakage.

IEP CHANDIGARH/HOSHIARPUR, August 4     

     To realise the dream of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to upgrade and modernise the Punjab Police, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Friday dedicated a slew of Police initiatives in Hoshiarpur district including inaugurating a Seminar Hall at Police Lines and laying the foundation stone of Officers’ Mess. Apart from this, he also virtually inaugurated two hi-tech nakas— Rara Bridge in Tanda, Hoshiarpur and Interstate Naka Buddawad in PS Hajipur, Hoshiarpur.          The DGP was here to hold a high-level meeting in Hoshiarpur to review the law and order situation ahead of Independence Day falling on August 15. The meeting was held with the officers of Police districts— Jalandhar Commissionerate, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar Rural.          The meeting was attended by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Jalandhar Range Swapan Sharma, SSP Hoshiarpur Sartaj Singh Chahal, SSP Jalandhar Rural Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar and SSP Kapurthala Rajpal Singh Sandhu.          Divulging details, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that he has shared the security alerts received ahead of Independence Day and gave a detailed briefing to the officers to keep Punjab safe and secure as per the vision of CM Bhagwant Mann.          He mandated all the officers to not let anyone take the law into their hands and if any person was found indulged in any violent activities should be dealt with firmly and FIR should be registered immediately. He also warned miscreants trying to disturb law and order situations of stern action.          He also directed CPs/SSPs to increase the Police Checkpoints in their respective jurisdictions and ensure the checking of a maximum number of vehicles at every Naka, which will help in curtailing terrorist and criminal activities. “Punjab Police will carry on to the tradition of maintaining its professional excellence and checking crime in the state,” he reiterated.          Meanwhile, the DGP also interacted with the brave police officers of all ranks during Bada-khana and motivated them to perform their duties diligently. He also rewarded good performers on the occasion.

IEP Chandigarh, August 4      

    In an effort to address the issue of unauthorized constructions within the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, and  Improvement Trusts in Punjab, Minister for Local Government and Parliamentary Affairs, Balkar Singh, has today issued a WhatsApp number 7889149943 for the convenience of the people at Municipal Bhawan, Sector-35, Chandigarh.          Local Government and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Balkar Singh highlighted that with rapid urbanization and population growth, the threat of unauthorized colonies and illegal constructions has become a concern. To effectively address this issue, Minister Balkar Singh has taken the initiative to provide an accessible and convenient platform for citizens to complain about such violations.          He mentioned that the WhatsApp number, 7889149943, is now functional, and residents can use it to lodge complaints about unauthorized constructions and colonies. All complaints will be promptly reviewed and acted upon by the relevant authorities to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.          Minister Balkar Singh urged all citizens to come forward and participate in this campaign against unauthorized constructions, as it will significantly contribute to maintaining the planned and sustainable development of the cities and towns of Punjab.          On this occasion, Local Government Department Secretary Mr. Ajoy Sharma, Director Mr. Uma Shankar Gupta, Chief Vigilance Officer Mr. Rajeev Sakheri, Chief Engineer Mr. Ashwani Chaudhary, Mr. Mukesh Garg, and Senior Town Planner Mr. Gautam Kumar were present.

IEP Chandigarh, August 4   

       Taking a serious note of the irregularities committed in transferring 100 acres of Panchayat land to private individuals, Chief Secretary Mr Anurag Verma has directed Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab to get an FIR registered against retired DDPO Kuldeep Singh and other beneficiaries of his order dated 27-2-2023 under Prevention of Corruption Act and other relevant provisions of IPC.          In the Inquiry ordered by Mr Anurag Verma, it has come out that very serious irregularities were committed by Kuldeep Singh. Kuldeep Singh was posted as ADC (D) Pathankot on 24-2-2023 which was a Friday. He was to retire on 28-2-2023 i.e.Tuesday. So, he listed the case for hearing on the very next working day i.e. 27-2-2023 (Monday). Kuldeep Singh decided the case in favour of private petitioners on 27-2-2023 itself. He did not bother to give any opportunity to Gram Panchayat to bring its evidence on record.          The inquiry report states that in such cases all Jamabandis right from 26 January 1950 to till date are to be examined. However, Kuldeep Singh did not bother to take these Jamabandis on record. It was found that the irregularities committed by him were prima facie wilful and malafide as the officer who exercised the powers of Collector knew very well that he was retiring on 28.02.2023 and 24 hours before his retirement he decided a case which involve 734 kanal 1 marla (91.75 acre) shamlat land in the favour of private persons and the act of Collector has caused a loss of crores of rupees to the Gram Panchayat.          Mr. Verma has further directed Rural Development Department to initiate disciplinary action under Rule 2.2 (b) of Punjab Civil Services Rules against Kuldeep Singh. He has further directed Rural Development Department not to disburse retrial benefits of Kuldeep Singh as required under rules.

IEP Chandigarh, August 2  

         Punjab Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Wednesday, directed all the field officers to vigorously continue the campaign of vacating encroached panchayat land after the recent floods in the state.          Presiding over an important meeting with all the Additional Deputy Commissioners (Development), Deputy Directors and DDPOs of the department at Vikas Bhawan (Mohali), S. Laljit Singh Bhullar said that although the department has successfully reclaimed 11,665 acres of panchayat land, but still thousands acres of cultivable and non-cultivable land is encroached in the state.          Sternly addressing the issue of land mafia involvement in mining on panchayat land, the Cabinet Minister directed the officials to promptly lodge FIRs against such illegal activities.          Reiterating the commitment to uphold integrity and accountability, the Rural Development and Panchayats Minister unequivocally stated that the government will not tolerate any collusion of department officials and employees in illegal land occupations.          The minister was apprised that this year, the government has collected Rs.432.71 crores revenue through the auctioning of 1.34 lakh acres of shamlat land. He instructed officials to swiftly auction the remaining around 7,000 acres of land within a week.          During the first meeting with the field officers, while Laljit Singh Bhullar reviewed the situation after the floods in the state and the work done by the department, he also became acquainted with the performance of the officers posted at head office and field. He instructed all the officials that the work at the village level should be carried out as per the vision of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann. He also directed to continuously monitor the performance of the field officers and officers with poor performance should be punished.          The Cabinet Minister reviewed various schemes such as settlement of panchayat roads leading to residential colonies and projects, solid and liquid waste management, renovation of ponds, conducting 100 percent audit of panchayati raj institutions, work under MNREGA, Livelihood Mission, issues related to rent of properties and shops of Zilla Parishads/Panchayat Samitis, expediting grievance redressal, expediting the process of disposal of court cases and implementation of EPM module in technical institutes.          Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included, Principal Secretary Mr. D.K. Tiwari, Director Mr. Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Joint Development Commissioner Mr. Amit Kumar, Additional Director Mr. Sanjeev Garg, Joint Director Mr. Jagwinderjit Singh Sandhu, Mr. Joginder Kumar, Mr. Jatinder Singh Brar and other officers of the department. 

IEP Chandigarh, August 2

Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Wednesday nabbed a MHC (Munshi), Hardeep Singh (ASI), posted at Police Station Koom Kalan, for accepting a bribe of Rs. 20,000 from Ekta resident of village Doaba Bhaini in Ludhiana district.          An official spokesperson of the VB said that the complainant Ekta lodged a complaint on Anti-Corruption Action Line on 21-07-2023 that an FIR no 38 Dated 13.4.2023 under sections 323, 341, 506, 148,149 of IPC was registered against her brother Deepak Kumar and others at Police Station Koom kalan. Her brother Deepak had also been injured, therefore, he also got registered cross FIR under sections 326, 323, 341, 506, 148,149 of IPC against Avtar Singh and others.          She alleged that SHO Paramjit Singh (SI) had demanded Rs 1 Lakh and MHC Hardeep Singh fixed the deal at Rs 50,000 to make the arrest of the accused party in cross case. The Complainant also claimed that ASI Randhir Singh took a bribe of Rs 35,000 from her and MHC Hardeep Singh has also taken Rs 20,000 separately. She also produced a call recording with MHC Hardeep Singh. After preliminary investigation of the complaint and call recording, the spokesperson said that a team of VB has arrested the accused MHC Hardeep Singh after registering an FIR no 18 dated 02.08.2023 under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act at Police Station VB, Ludhiana Range. He will be produced in court tomorrow. The Spokesperson informed that the role of SHO Paramjit Singh and ASI Randhir Singh is also being examined. 

IEP Ludhiana, August 2

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday handed over cheques of financial assistance worth Rs 101 crore to 25,000 eligible beneficiaries (Rs 1.75 lakh to each) for construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme. Addressing the gathering during state level function after handing over cheques of financial assistance worth Rs 101 crore to 25,000 eligible beneficiaries (Rs 1.75 lakh to each) for construction of house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, the Chief Minister said that the state government is duty bound to ensure well being of every strata of society especially that of the weaker and underprivileged sections. He said that it is bounden duty of the government to provide Roti (Food), Kapda (Clothes) and Makaan (House) to all the residents of the state. Bhagwant Mann said that in a welfare state, the money for these pro-people initiatives come from the tax collected from masses which is repaid in form of welfare schemes back to them.   The Chief Minister said that while his predecessors made rhetoric that the state exchequer is empty; his government is spending every single penny from the state treasury for public welfare. He said that there was no dearth of funds earlier but the successive state governments lacked the vision and will to use these funds for the well being of people. Bhagwant Mann said that the funds at that time used to go in pockets of the corrupt leaders but his government has checked this pilferage with a heavy hand and now this fund is being used for welfare of masses. The Chief Minister said that due to incompetent and corrupt leaders the people lost faith in the political leadership of the state. However, he said that in the assembly polls held in year 2022 the people of state had reposed huge trust in him for which he will always remain indebted to them. Bhagwant Mann said that his government is making every effort to uphold this confidence of people by ensuring the welfare of every section of society and giving impetus to development of the state. The Chief Minister, while expressing concern over the fatalities due to road accidents in the state, said that in order to save precious lives of people his government has decided to form first of its kind ‘Road Safety Force’ to streamline the movement of traffic on the roads of the state. He said that daily around 14 precious lives are lost in road accidents in Punjab adding that this causality can be checked by manning the roads well for which ‘Road Safety Force’ has been formed. Bhagwant Mann said that this force will be entrusted with the task of checking rash driving, streamlining vehicular movement on roads and others to check the road accidents. The Chief Minister said that he had flagged off 50 tractors for the Municipal Corporation Ludhiana adding that in order to ensure cleanliness and other works in villages the state government will soon embark a scheme to provide tractors to the village panchayats in the state. He said that in the first phase these tractors will be provided in the big villages so that boost can be given to their development. Bhagwant Mann said that besides ensuring works pertaining to the villages these tractors will be also helpful for the tractorless farmers for agriculture purposes. The Chief Minister said that the state government is laying major thrust on the Education, Health and Employment sector in the state. He said that this is the need of hour to reverse the trend of brain drain by channelizing the unbounded youth of energy in a positive direction. Bhagwant Mann said that the youth of the state have huge potential to excel in every field and every effort is being made to make them active partners in socio-economic development of the country. The Chief Minister further said that Punjabis are blessed with indomitable spirit to face colossal challenges and successfully emerge from them.  Bhagwant Mann said Punjab is a land of saints, seers, prophets and great martyrs adding that Punjabis are sons of soil, who have learned a lot from teachings of great Gurus and sacrifices of our patriots.  He said that the residents of the state have always opposed tyranny, injustice and oppression to uphold the ethos of democracy adding that Punjabis have made enormous contributions in the freedom struggle, safeguarding the borders, making the country self-reliant in food production, upholding its unity, integrity, sovereignty and communal harmony.