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PUNJAB COLLABORATING WITH WORLD BANK UNDER $215 MILLION BFAIR PROJECT: CHEEMA

IEP Chandigarh, September 21

Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that the state has collaborated with World Bank under a $215 million Building Fiscal and Institutional Resilience for growth (BFAIR) project in which the contribution of the state will be $65 million. He said that unlike other loans this is a reform based project targetted at bring about reforms in the systems and processes of five administrative departments.

Disclosing this in a statement issued here, Finance Minister said that the project will improve systems in Finance, Planning, Governance Reforms, Local Government and Women and Child Development. He further added that the project will significantly improve delivery of the services at local level.

“The project will be implemented over a period of 5 years to bring in process and policy-based institutional reforms to enhance resilience and fiscal sustainability”, said Cheema. He also informed that $150 million assistance from the World Bank will  be available in the form of a very low cost loan wherein repayment will begin shortly during the course of the project. 

“The Punjab Government’s contribution of $65 million in this project will introduce an overarching framework by strengthening of the institutional capabilities and accountability; supporting better public service delivery and other reform measures for good governance”, said Cheema.

220 posts of coaches in sports department will be filled soon, says Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer

IEP CHANDIGARH Dhudike (Moga)/Chandigarh, September 21

Sports and Higher Education Minister Punjab Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer today said that in order to make Punjab a leading state in the field of sports, the state government will soon start process to fill 220 coaches in state besides strengthening the sports infrastructure.

The Minister, while interacting with the media after inaugurating a hockey astroturf laid at the cost of five crore rupees, said that the previous governments did not make any effort for the promotion of sports and sportspersons in the state. However, he said that after assuming Punjab government led by Mr Bhagwant Singh Mann is making all-out efforts to promote sports culture in the state. He said that besides filling up existing 220 vacancies, new posts for coaches will also be created.

The Minister said that under the Hockey Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Scholarship Scheme, a stipend of Rs 8000 and Rs 6000 per month will be given to the senior and junior players respectively who will secure the first three positions at the national level. He said that this scheme will encourage the players to participate in sports.  He said that ironically earlier governments never released funds to buy sports equipment for the players on time. 

The Minister said that for the first time in history of state, the AAP government has kept a special budget to buy sports equipment. He promised that the sports budget would be increased every year.  He also said that under the new sports policy, the state government will prepare a separate cadre for sports so that as many sportsmen can be given government jobs.

While paying obeisance at the birth place of Lala Lajpat Rai, he said that we can breathe in free air today only because of the freedom fighters. He said that the Punjab government is trying to create the dream state of martyrs.

He also inaugurated Moga Rowing and Water Sports Club Daudhar here.

On this occasion, Mr Manjit Singh Bilaspur MLA of Nihal Singh Wala Constituency thanked Mr Meet Hayer for inaugurating the hockey astroturf prepared with five crore rupees in the government college at village Dhudike.

On this occasion, Baghapurana MLA Mr Amritpal Singh Sukhanand, Dharamkot MLA Mr Davinderjit Singh Laddi Dhons, Deputy Commissioner Mr Kulwant Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police Mr Gulneet Singh Khurana, SDM Mr Ram Singh, AAP District President Harmanjit Singh among others were also present.

Meet Hayer directs Deputy Commissioners to ensure use of self-declaration instead of affidavits

IEP Chandigarh, September 21, 2022

          Punjab Governance Reforms Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Friday directed all Deputy Commissioners of Punjab to ensure use of Self declaration instead of Affidavits while processing cases of public service delivery.

          Meet Hayer further informed that State Government had already adopted Self declaration instead of taking attested affidavits. Instructions were already issued in 2010 but it was only on papers and not implemented and was not followed by offices. During review of Sewa Kendras, it has been observed that a lot of people are coming to Sewa Kendras for Affidavit Attestations.

          From January 2022, Total 4,38,058 affidavits prepared and attested from Sewa Kendras. More than 2100 citizens are visiting daily at Sewa Kendras only for Affidavit attestations. An Officer at rank of Executive Magistrate is being deputed by districts to attest these Affidavits. During interaction with citizens, it has come to notice that at the district level including Government/Private offices and school/colleges are still demanding affidavits for various reasons like admissions, certificates, scholarships, Meter Connections, Tubewell Connections, recruitments, NOC etc.  This is not only costs money to Citizens but also involves wastage of time of the citizens as well as Government officials.

He said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has clear vision to provide public services to common citizen in a hassle free manner and this step will save both time and money of the citizen of Punjab.

Awareness to initiate regarding proper parking of vehicles in Dehradun

IEP DEHRADUN, September 21, 2022

The Home Guards and Civil Defence directorate will start a scheme as an initiative to encourage the public and raise awareness regarding proper parking of their vehicles in Dehradun district. The directorate aims to accustom and motivate people to properly park their vehicles in order to achieve the objective of a disciplined society.

Under this scheme, a person can send 50 photographs of his or her well parked vehicle to the WhatsApp Number 9458950814 to be rewarded with a certificate by the administration for abiding by the rules of proper parking. The commandant general, Home Guards, Kewal Khurana discussed this scheme with the director general of police Ashok Kumar who also agreed with the scheme while adding that the police will also abrogate the fine of such person on his or her next accidental traffic violation. This scheme will also be applicable for a member of his family, as per the officials.

The officials stated that besides Whatsapp, the public would soon be able to use a mobile application to participate in the scheme which will also help the administration to preserve the records of applicants under the scheme. The scheme will be started as a pilot project in the Dehradun district but later, it will be implemented across the State too.

Uttarakhand govt prepares plan to introduce the syllabus of National Council of Education Research and Training in Madarsas

IEP DEHRADUN, September 21, 2022

After initiating a plan for survey of all Madarsas, the Uttarakhand government has now prepared a plan to introduce the syllabus of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) in the Madarsas of the State. Under the plan, the syllabus of the NCERT would be first introduced in the Madarsas controlled by the Uttarakhand Waqf Board and later this plan would be extended to the Madarsas which are under Madarsa Board.There are about 1,000 Madarsas in Uttarakhand in large number of students of the Muslim community are enrolled. At present these Madarsas are only imparting religious education to the students. Confirming the plan, the chairman of the Uttarakhand Waqf Board, Shadab Shams said that the objective of the BJP is to convert the Madarsas into Smart Madarsas. He said that soon the NCERT syllabus would be introduced in 103 Madarsas which are under the Waqf board. Shams disclosed that under the new curriculum the religious education would be imparted in the first two hours only in the morning and in the rest of the time the Madarsas would operate like a normal school.The Waqf board has decided to implement the NCERT syllabus initially in 10 Madarsas in the state which include the Rehmania Madarsa of Roorkee and Usmania Madarsa in Dehradun. These ten institutes would be developed as Model Madarsas, thereafter the NCERT syllabus would be extended in other Madarsas. Shams added that tabs would also be given to the students of Madarsas and recruitment of new teachers would also be done.“Our objective is to realise the dream of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Madarsa students should have the holy Quran in one hand and a laptop in the other. We want our students in Madarsas to also become doctors and engineers. We are concerned about the future of our children and are doing every bit with a clear conscience,’’ Shams said. The chairman of the Uttarakhand Waqf board added that skill development centres would also be set up in the Madarsas to polish the youngsters of the community in different trades and provide certificates to them.

Ministry of Railways approves sum of Rs 28.31 crore for land acquisition in four villages in Haridwar district

IEP DEHRADUN, September 21, 2022

Paving the way for completion of the construction of a new rail line between Deoband and Roorkee, the ministry of Railways has approved a sum of Rs 28.31 crore for land acquisition in four villages in Haridwar district. The information about the approval of the budget for the important project was given by the Union Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a letter written to the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.It is pertinent to mention here that CM Dhami during his recent visit to Delhi had requested the Union Railways minister Vaishnaw for compensation to the villagers for the land acquired from them for the rail line. The CM has expressed his gratitude to the Union minister for the approval of the compensation for the villagers. The 27.45 kilometre long rail link between Roorkee and Deoband stations would reduce the distance of Delhi and Roorkee by 33 kilometres and Dehradun to Delhi by 40 kilometres.At present the train takes the route of Tapri to reach Roorkee. After completion of work on the rail link the train would directly go to Roorkee from Deoband. The work on the Rs 691 crore project started in the year 2018 and a target to get it completed by the year 2021 was initially taken up. However the pandemic of Covid19 and issue of compensation to the farmers for the land acquired from them delayed the project. The release of the sum of Rs 28.31 crore is now expected to expedite the completion of the important project.

IIT Roorkee transfers technology to make biodegradable polybags

IEP DEHRADUN, September 21, 2022

The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT) Roorkee has transferred the technology to make biodegradable polybags to a company in Noida. Professor PP Kundu of the department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Roorkee, who is an expert in polymer technology has developed a thermoplastic starch that will be blended with LDPE, thereby making LDPE biodegradable. India being agrarian in nature produces a lot of starch such as potato, rice, wheat and maize starch and other starches are available in plenty.

IIT Roorkee has transferred this technology to Noidabased Agrasar Innovatives LLP for manufacturing biodegradable polybags in large quantities. The company will commercially utilise the present technology for manufacturing biodegradable polybags in large quantities. Natural starch being crystalline cannot be blended with LDPE due to its high melting point. So, it can be used as filler in LDPE. On the other hand, thermoplastic starch is a plasticised form of natural starch obtained from natural sources such as cassava, maize, potato, etc along with plasticizer. Thermoplastic starch is mainly amorphous, whereas ordinary starch is crystalline. The commonly used plasticizers are polyfunctional alcohols such as glycerol and sorbitol along with some low molecular weight compounds capable of forming intermolecular hydrogen bonding such as water, formamide etc.

 The starch and plasticizer in the presence of heat and constant agitation undergo gelatinization. In that process, the crystallinity of starch is sufficiently reduced, leading to an amorphous structure. Due to its amorphous character, it can be blended with LDPE. IIT Roorkee director Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi said, “The developed technology is expected to have immense value in view of the large quantities of starch produced in India and the environment friendly nature of the solution.”

Uttarakhand Public Service Commission sets first phase examination calendar

IEP DEHRADUN, September 21, 2022

The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) chairman Rakesh Kumar presided over a meeting on Tuesday in which the dates for publication of examination advertisement and proposed examination dates for various class C posts were finalised. According to the decisions taken in the meeting, for the post of police constablePAC/IRB/fire fighter the advertisement will be published on October 7 and the examination will be conducted on December 18.

For the post of revenue sub inspector/Lekhpal the advertisement will be published on October 14 and the examination will be conducted on January 9, 2023. Similarly, for the post of forest guard the advertisement will be published on October 21 and the examination will be held on January 22 next year. For the post of assistant account/auditor the advertisement will be published on October 28 and the examination will be held on February 12 next year.

The UKPSC chairman also met chief secretary Sukbhir Singh Sandhu. Kumar said that the commission is undertaking all preparations to ensure that the examinations are conducted with full transparency as per the directions of the administration and departmental rules. The dates for examination in the first stage have been set and soon the dates for the other examinations will also be decided, he said. The chief secretary said that the State administration will provided all required cooperation to the commission.

Kultar Singh Sandhwan appeals to the people to follow the teachings of Bhai Ghanaiya for building a good society

IEP Chandigarh, September 20

 On the occasion of the ”Manav Seva Divis” dedicated to Bhai Ghanaiya, the speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Mr. Kultar Singh Sandhwan has appealed to the people across the state to follow the teachings of Bhai Ghanaiya ji.  

While paying his respects to Bhai Ghanaiya, Mr. Sandhwan said that he has shown us the way to serve the society without any favoritism. He also had the privilege of serving the people by joining the Bhai Ghanaiya Cancer Roko Society, which makes them feel blessed. Bhai Ghanaiya ‘s father was a rich businessman but he himself was a religious personality. He adopted a spiritualist and humanist view and continued on this path throughout his life. In 1704, Bhai Ghanaiya had performed his services at Anandpur Sahib without any discrimination. He served  water to the Sikh and the Mughal soldiers without any prejudice.

 Mr. Sandhwan said that to create a good society we should adopt the teachings of Bhai Ghanaiya ji. He appealed to the people to live with mutual love, cooperation and brotherhood and called the people to play role in the society without any discrimination.

Punjab govt extends deadline of VDS for enhancing load on tube wells till October 23

IEP Chandigarh, September 20

In a major relief to farmers desirous of enhancing the electricity load of their tube-wells, the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has extended the date of the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) for enhancing load till October 23.

This is for the second time, that the Punjab Government has extended the deadline, in view of the keen interest shown by the farmers. 

An official spokesperson of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) said that the VDS scheme was launched on June 10 for 45 days (till July 24) by slashing fees for load enhancement on tube wells from existing Rs 4750 to Rs 2500 per BHP.

          On July 23, the Chief Minister had extended the scheme till September 15.

The Spokesperson said that as of now 1.70 lakh farmers have saved  Rs 160 crore by availing the benefit of this scheme. While exhorting the farmers to take maximum benefit of the scheme, he said that those farmers who are interested in enhancing the load of their tube wells can apply for it till October 23.

Meanwhile, as Punjab is predominately an agrarian economy with a large section of its population dependent on farming, CM Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab Government has been leaving no stone unturned to maximize the profit of farmers by reducing their input costs.