IEP Chandigarh February 22      

    The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Wednesday arrested a builder Parveen Kumar son of Amar Singh for establishing an unauthorized colony named Ambika Greens in connivance with the officials/employees of the Municipal Council (MC) Kharar thereby causing a huge financial loss to the government for non-payment of Rs.2,22,51,105 and tampering with the records related to the passed maps/plans of the plots in the colony from the office of the council. The local court has granted 5 days police remand to the VB to enquire into all the allegations properly.          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said in this regard, a case FIR 10 dated 21-02-2023 under sections 420, 409, 120-B of the IPC and sections 13(1)(a), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused at VB Flying Squad, Punjab, Mohali police station. Further investigation in this case was under progress.          Giving details he further said this case has been registered after the investigation of a vigilance enquiry in which it was found that about 20 acres of land was donated to Shaheed Kansi Ram Memorial College Bhagumajra, Kharar by the residents of village Bhagumajra in the year 1972-73 to establish a college. At that time under the chairmanship of the then MLA Kharar Shamsher Singh Josh, an 11-member society was formed on 14.08.1978 and the National Education Trust was formed who had purchased about 17 acres of land in nearby village Khanpur.          The spokesperson further informed that after this, on 07-02-2018, Shaheed Kansi Ram College Education Trust Kharar further sold 6 acres 1 bigha land in village Khanpur to the above mentioned Praveen Kumar for a total of Rs 6,52,81,771. After that, Praveen Kumar established a colony named Ambika Greens on this land through his realtor firm, and for getting the maps/plans passed of the said colony by MC Kharar, he deposited only Rs. 6,58,213 out of actual amount of Rs. 2,02,51,105. The accused coloniser started selling plots to different people without getting the map/plan passed from the said council thus violated the rules.          He further added that out of the plots sold by the accused Praveen Kumar in this colony, the maps of about 30 plots were passed by the officials/employees of MC Kharar and issued NOCs to various allottees in the said colony in colluding with the above said accused. Subsequently, the PSPCL Sub Division City-2 Kharar installed domestic electricity meters on the basis of such NOCs issued while the said Ambika Greens colony has not been passed yet.          The spokesperson further added that during the investigation, it was found that a notice was also issued to Praveen Kumar on 22-11-2021 by the then MC executive officer, Kharar, Rajesh Kumar Sharma to pay the government arrears, but still the above said accused has not deposited any amount to the MC. Due to this inaction, the officers/officials of MC Kharar had to stop the allottees from making any construction on the purchased plots until the colony was passed, which caused huge financial loss to the government but the MC officers/employees didn’t performed their duties properly in this case.          He further informed that the said accused Praveen Kumar has not yet submitted the complete file regarding his colony named Ambika Greens to the concerned state department to get it regularised. From this vigilance investigation, it was concluded that the accused Praveen Kumar had cut the unauthorized colony and sold various plots thereby caused loss to the state exchequer due to non-payment of the said amount including interest of Rs.2,22,51,105. He added that it has also been found that the officials/employees of MC Kharar in connivance with Praveen Kumar had passed the maps/plans of the unauthorized colony located at a short distance from the council office from the year 2020 till now by misusing their powers and did not stopped the owners of plots from construction in this unauthorized colony.          The spokesperson said that apart from this, the officers/officials of the MC Kharar in collusion with Praveen Kumar, has also destroyed the office record pertaining to the maps and plans passed in the said colony. He further informed that during further investigation the roles of other concerned officials would also be examined. 

IEP Chandigarh, February 22

          The Punjab Affordable Housing Policy-2023 approved by Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Cabinet, will fulfil the common man’s aspirations to own a dream house and will further give a push to revival of the real estate sector in the state, said Punjab Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Minister Mr. Aman Arora, here.

          This policy has been introduced to provide affordable houses to the lower-middle and lower-income strata of the society and also after taking note of the demands of the developers.

          Divulging details about the policy, Mr. Aman Arora said that the minimum area for a plotted colony has been fixed at five acres, while, the minimum area required for group housing is now 2.5 acres only, except for GMADA area where minimum area required for a new colony will remain 25 acres. Maximum plot size has been fixed upto 150 sq.yd. and maximum flat size has been fixed upto 90 sq.mt. under the policy.

          The saleable area has also been increased from 62 to 65 per cent of the total project site area to provide plots at affordable rates to the needy and the saleable area is being given on the total plot area of the project irrespective of any master plan road passing through the plot area.

          He further said that the minimum area under greens has been fixed at 7.5 per cent from 10% of the site area and the minimum width of internal roads will be 30’ ft in such projects.    

          To reduce the burden on individual plot holders, the H&UD Minister said that the CLU, EDC and License fee have also been reduced to 50 per cent, or half, of those applicable in case of a normal colony, however,  the reduction in charges will not be applicable in GMADA area.

          To enable speedy clearances of all approvals for all categories of the Affordable Colonies, Mr. Aman Arora said that all the powers for granting approvals have been delegated to the Chief Administrator of the concerned Urban Development Authority at local level designating him/her as the single competent authority.

          Mr Aman Arora said that H&UD department will facilitate promoters in obtaining NOCs in time bound manner by conducting frequent meetings with various regulatory authorities like PSPCL, PPCB etc and regular monitoring will be ensured at the higher level for quick disposal of cases regarding approvals, he added.

          The Minister affirmed that this policy will also encourage the promoters to get their colonies approved in hassle-free manner and will definitely curb the mushrooming of unauthorised colonies,

IEP Chandigarh, February 22

          On the directives of Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, the department has ordered to suspend the services of Senior Assistant (Accounts) who have officiating charge of Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Gurmeet Singh posted at Guru Harsahai, District Ferozepur and Panchayat Secretary Pritpal Singh with immediate effect on charges of corruption.

          It is pertinent to mention that the suspended employees will be given subsistence allowance on the terms and conditions specified under Rule 7.2 of Punjab Civil Services Rules. During the suspension period, the headquarters of the these employees will be the Office of District Development and Panchayat Officer, Faridkot and Office of District Development and Panchayat Officer Ferozpur respectively.

          Reiterating his commitment to provide corruption free governance to the people, Cabinet Minister Dhaliwal said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government will not tolerate dereliction, indiscipline and corruption at any cost. He said that immediate action will be taken when such cases come to fore.

IEP Chandigarh, February 22    

      Newly appointed Chairman of Punjab Information Technology and Communication Technology Corporation Limited (Punjab Infotech), Dr. Guninderjit Singh Jawandha assumed charge of his office at Udyog Bhawan on Wednesday in the presence of Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema.          Congratulating Dr. Jawandha, Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema expressed hope that Punjab Infotech would achieve new heights under the guidance of the new chairman. He also assured every possible support from the Government of Punjab to Dr. Jawandha, while conveying his best wishes for the new stint.          Dr. Guninderjit Singh Jawandha, who is a multi-lingual graduate with masters in business administration and a doctorate degree, while thanking Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for the responsibility bestowed upon him, said that he would discharge his duty with utmost sincerity. It is worth mentioning here that Dr. Jawandha is Chairman of Bhai Gurdas Group of Institutions besides running an NGO Japhar Welfare Society.

IEP Chandigarh February 22

          The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its anti-corruption campaign in the state on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, nabbed a Sub Inspector (SI) Jarnail Singh, Incharge police post, Mudki, Ferozepur district red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000.

          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said this corruption case has been registered against the above said police official on the complaint of Sewak Singh, resident of village Pakka, Faridkot district.

          Giving details he added that the complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the above said police official has demanded Rs 30,000 as a bribe to execute compromise between two parties to a police complaint in which his son was involved. The complainant further informed that the deal in this regard was struck at Rs 28,000 and the accused has taken Rs 8,000 on the spot to provide copy of compromise. While handing over the money the complainant has recoded the entire conversation on his phone as an evidence.

          The spokesperson informed that the VB has investigated the allegations levelled in the complaint and laid a trap in which the accused police official was arrested while taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 as a second instalment from the accused in the presence of two official witnesses.

          In this regard a case under prevention of corruption act has been registered against the SI Jarnail Singh at VB police station Ferozepur. Further investigation in this case was under progress.

IEP Chandigarh, February 21     

     Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal held an online meeting with all the DCs, Police Commissioners and SSPs of the state to review the complaints of NRIs and directed to resolve the pending complaints by March 15.          Mr. Dhaliwal said that the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been taking effective steps to address the issues of NRI Punjabis and making constant efforts to resolve their grievances in a quick and meaningful manner. He added that 60 percent complaints have resolved which were received during ‘NRI Punjabian nal milani’ programme while the remaining complaints will also be redressed soon.          Mr. Dhaliwal said that most of the complaints were related to the revenue and police departments, while 20 percent complaints were already pending in various courts. Minister said that DCs and SSPs have also been asked to resolve complaints of NRI Punjabis on a priority basis. He said that the district level committees have been constituted under the leadership of all the Deputy Commissioners, which were bound to solve the problems of the migrants by coordinating with various departments.          On the occasion, Principal Secretary NRI Affairs J.M. Balamurugan, AIG NRI Affairs Balwinder Singh, Special Secretary NRI Kamaljit Kaur Brar, Deputy Secretary Surinder Kaur Brar, besides senior officers of various departments were present.

IEP Chandigarh, February 21

          Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO has assured the office bearers of POWERCOM and TRANSCO Coordination Struggle Committee that their all legitimate demands would be accepted soon.

          During the meeting, the office bearers of Powercom and Transco Coordination Sangharsh Committee Punjab apprised the power minister about their demands. Power Minister listened  their demands of the employees’ organizations very carefully.

           The meeting was attended by Gopal Sharma, Director Commercial, Management and HR Engineer, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, besides senior officials of POWERCOM and TRANSCO and leaders of POWERCOM and TRANSCO Coordination Struggle Committee Outsource Punjab.

IEP Chandigarh, February 21

          Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan, on Tuesday, said that a mock session of the assembly for the students will be held in near future in order to remove lack of interest towards politics among the youth.

          Meeting the students of Government High School village Dod, district Faridkot, who visited Punjab Vidhan Sabha, S. Sandhwan said that it is important to educate students about politics because they are the future of the country, some of them can be leaders of the future. He said, there is apathy towards politics in the young generation and we are duty bound to remove this tendency. Thus, a mock session will be held in the Vidhan Sabha in the coming days with the intention of motivating students towards politics and creating their interest in politics.

          The Speaker asked the students of 6th to 9th standard that on their return, they would write an essay about what they experienced in the Vidhan Sabha and the students who will clinch first three positions in each class will be bestowed with Rs.3100, Rs.2100 and Rs.1100 respectively.

          He also sensitize students about the importance of the Vidhan Sabha and the process of enacting and amending laws.