IEP Chandigarh, August 31

Rajesh Khullar, an esteemed civil servant and Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner of Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, retired from his illustrious career today, marking the culmination of around 35 years of dedicated and commendable service.

Chief Secretary Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sh. D.S. Dhesi, ACS Finance Sh. Anurag Rastogi and other esteemed representatives of the Haryana IAS Officers Association came together to extend their heartfelt wishes and gratitude to Sh. Khullar on the occasion of his retirement.

In addition to his responsibilities as the FCR, Sh. Khullar also held the crucial role of Additional Chief Secretary for the School Education and Information, Public Relations, Languages, and Culture Department. A 1988 batch IAS officer, his tenure has been marked by his unwavering commitment to public service and efficient governance.

        A highlight of Sh. Rajesh Khullar’s illustrious career was his appointment as the Executive Director at the World Bank’s Washington DC office in September 2020, for a term of three years. Prior to this international assignment, he played a pivotal role as the Principal Secretary to Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal for nearly five years, where his contributions significantly impacted the state’s development trajectory.

        Notably, during his tenure, Sh. Khullar also shouldered the responsibilities of Haryana ACS Home, simultaneously serving as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. His journey has been adorned with numerous pivotal roles across both the central and Haryana governments. Notably, he served as Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Union Ministry of Finance, showcasing his versatility and prowess in tackling multifaceted challenges.

IEP Chandigarh, August 31

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal will inaugurate the expansion work of Bhiwani Jail on September 5, 2023. This expansion includes a new jail that has been constructed on about 12 acres at a cost of Rs. 29.98 crore. The new jail has an inmate capacity of 774 persons, including both male and female prisoners. The new jail complex is equipped with modern facilities.

        Sharing more information in this regard, a government spokesperson said that Energy and Jails Minister, Sh. Ranjit Singh will also attend the inauguration ceremony.

        He said that in the jail expansion work, five barracks have been built in the new jail complex for male prisoners and one barrack for female prisoners. The capacity of a men’s barrack is 126 and the capacity of a women’s barrack is 114. Earlier the capacity on the old jail was 561, which has now increased to 1335.

        The spokesperson said that a shed has been built in the new jail complex for skill development, where the jail prisoners will be able to learn some work or other. Similarly, separate meeting rooms have been made in the new complex for male and female prisoners to meet their families. Apart from this, a separate kitchen has also been made. He said that an administrative block has been built in the jail premises, which houses the offices of the jail officials.

IEP Chandigarh, August 31

Amidst ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Thursday nabbed an Executive Engineer (XEN) and a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the Mining department while accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh. The arrested accused officers have been identified as Sartaj Singh Randhawa, XEN posted at Hoshiarpur and Harjinder Singh, SDO posted at Dasuya. 

Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said that Jaspreet Singh resident of village Dholan of tehsil Jagraon lodged a complaint that he is working with Regal Enterprises Company as a Site Controller. The company was awarded a contract of land-filling at Mukerian-Talwara Railway line and it had also submitted Rs 41,10,117 as a fee fixed by the government with the department concerned to excavate soil from village Ghagwal of tehsil Dasuya. Thereafter, it was come into their notice that the land, for which the fee was paid, is falling under section 4 and 5 of the Forest Department. The company filed an application to transfer the royalty in March 2023. The complainant along with his senior Jatinder Singh met the accused SDO and the XEN at latter’s office on July 20 and the XEN Sartaj Randhawa said that the royalty cannot be transferred but after the repeated requests, then he said that SDO Harjinder Singh will talk to them in this regard.

After a few days, the accused SDO called Jatinder Singh to his office in Dasuya and told that the XEN Sartaj Randhawa demanded Rs 12 lakh as a bribe to transfer the royalty. Later, the accused SDO agreed on Rs 8 lakh for the same, the complainant alleged.

After preliminary investigation of the complaint, the spokesperson said that a team of VB unit Hoshiarpur laid a trap and arrested both the accused while accepting the bribe money of Rs 5 lakh from the complainant in the presence of official witnesses.

In this regard, an FIR no. 22 dated 31-08-2023 under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act and 34 of IPC has been registered against XEN Sartaj Randhawa and SDO Harjinder Singh at Police Station VB, Jalandhar Range. Both accused will be produced in the court on Friday and further investigation is under progress, he added.

IEP Chandigarh, August 31

The Punjab Government, led by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, is promoting a campaign to provide employment opportunities to the youth. Under this series, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board Chairman Dr. S.S. Ahluwalia handed over appointment letters to 21 Junior Engineers (JEs). On this occasion, CEO of Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and Secretary of the Information and Public Relations Department of Punjab, S. Malwinder Singh Jaggi, were also present.

During a function organized today at the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board office in Sector 27, Chandigarh, Dr. S.S. Ahluwalia mentioned that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is providing new employment opportunities as promised to the Punjabis. This initiative aims to keep the new generation away from drugs and wrongdoing, so they don’t have to go abroad to fulfill their dreams.

While handing over appointment letters to 21 Junior Engineers of Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Dr. S.S. Ahluwalia advised the newly appointed employees to work with a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, as there is no place for corruption in the Punjab Government.

Dr. S.S. Ahluwalia further stated that since the formation of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s government, 12 SDOs and 43 JEs have been recruited in the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. He also highlighted that the Punjab government has provided about 35,000 government jobs so far. He pointed out that previous governments used to offer jobs in the last year of elections, but the current government’s primary focus is to make ‘Rangla Punjab’ by providing maximum jobs to the youth. He emphasized that in the Punjab Government, youth are being recruited based on merit, without any discrimination or recommendation.

JE Nishant Garg, who received the appointment letter on the occasion, expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister, stating that Bhagwant Singh Mann is the first Chief Minister who has provided government jobs to the youth solely based on merit, without any bribe or recommendation, in a transparent manner. He added that during the five-year tenure of previous governments, jobs were only released in the last year, whereas the government of Bhagwant Singh Mann has provided government jobs to the youth on a large scale in the first year itself. He further mentioned that he had been applying for a government job since 2016, and now the Government of Bhagwant Singh Mann has granted him the job.

IEP Chandigarh, August 31

After the grand opening of ‘Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan-2023’ (Season-2) by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann during the opening ceremony at Bathinda, the Block level competitions kick started today. Competitions in eight sports started today in all the blocks across the state. Near about 1.5 lakh players participated in all 157 Blocks.

Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer has instructed all the District Sports Officers that the players who could not register online but reach the ground should be allowed to participate. Many requests were received from Players who could not get registered for some reason. So this decision has been taken by the Sports Minister keeping in mind their interests.

Divulging the details, Meet Hayer said that this time eight age group competitions are being conducted in a total of 35 sports. Eight of these sports competitions have started at the block level. Athletics, Football, Volleyball (Smashing and Shooting), Kabaddi (National style and Circle style), Kho Kho and Tug of War in eight age groups Under 14, Under 17, Under 21, 21 to 30 years, 31 to 40 years, 41 to 55 years, 55 to 65 years and above 65 years competitions are being conducted. The block winners will further participate in district level tournaments.

Meet Hayer further said that apart from the winners of the above eight games in the District level competitions, there will be direct competitions for other new sports and then there will be State level competitions in the month of October. He said that after the success of the first season, this time more enthusiasm is being shown among the players. State level winners will be given prize money of Rs. 7 Cr. He said that the sports department has made proper arrangements for the competitions of the players.

IEP Chandigarh, August 31

Punjab Rural Development and Panchayats Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Thursday, informed that the decision to dissolve panchayats, known as the foundation of the democracy, has been withdrawn due to technical flaws.

In a statement issued here, the Cabinet Minister said that when the matter to dissolve panchayats came to the notice of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, he ordered strict action against the officers of the panchayat department due to technical flaws in the concerned order dissolving panchayats, and the decision in this regard has been withdrawn in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Cabinet Minister stated that the government has initiated efforts to conduct timely elections for village panchayats in the state. The process of revising voter lists, demarcation of wards and implementing a 50 percent reservation etc. for the elections was very long, but due to the floods in the state, the operation was halted as the officers and employees were engaged in relief efforts.

The Cabinet Minister affirmed the Punjab government’s commitment to holding panchayat elections as per schedule. He said that to strengthen democracy, Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann has also announced Rs.5 lakh to each village which will unanimously elect panchayat.

In this matter, the Punjab government has suspended the principal secretary and director of the rural development and panchayat department with immediate effect for taking a technically flawed decision regarding the dissolution of panchayats.