IEP Chandigarh, October 1

Gurpreet Singh of village Pilkhani (District Patiala) today became the first farmer in the State to receive payment for paddy pertaining to Kharif Season 2022-23. The farmer confirmed that the MSP amount has reached in his account.

Disclosing this today at Rajpura Mandi while commencing the paddy procurement as part of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak said that Gurpreet Singh, hailing from Pilkhani Village in Patiala District, had brought 103.875 quintals and it was cleaned and purchased on the very first day of procurement i.e. 1st of October. He added that today, within 4 hours of purchase, the Department has transferred the farmer’s payment, amounting to Rs. 2.13 lakh (2,13, 982.50) directly into his bank account. The Minister said that lifting of the purchased paddy would also commence in Rajpura Mandi from today itself.

Kataruchak added that that all arrangements, for purchase of paddy in the Mandis, are in place. He said that the Punjab Government will leave no stone unturned in buying every grain that is offered for sale by the farmer.

IEP CHANDIGARH/JALANDHAR, October 1

As part of the ongoing war against anti-social elements launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police has arrested a third operative of ISI-backed terror module jointly handled by Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Pakistan-based Gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

The arrested accused has been identified as Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch of village Jogewal in Ferozepur.

The development came eight days after the Counter Intelligence team led by AIG Counter Intelligence Jalandhar Navjot Singh Mahal had busted the module with the arrest of its two operatives identified as Baljit Singh Malhi and Gurbaksh Singh alias Gora Sandhu, both residents of Ferozepur. The police had also recovered one sophisticated AK-56 assault rifle along with two magazines, 90 live cartridges and two bullet shells from a location pinpointed by Gurbaksh Singh at his village.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following the disclosures of accused Baljit Malhi, the police team has managed to apprehend Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch, who is considered to be the close aide of Italy-based gangster Harpreet Singh alias Happy Sanghera and was also in touch with Canada-based Gangster Lakhbir Landa. Notably, Baljit was also in touch with Happy Sanghera, and on his directions only, he had picked consignment of weapons from a pinpointed spot at Makhu-Lohian road near the sanctuary in village Sudan in July 2022.

During preliminary investigations, Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch has confessed to have arranged a 10 days stay for Lakhbir Landa’s associate identified as Jagjit Singh alias Jotta of Mehta Road in Amritsar and his aide at an abandoned house in the Makhu area of Ferozepur, said the DGP, adding that Jotta has been facing four criminal cases and is currently lodged at Central Jail, Amritsar.

He said that accused Har Sarpanch also revealed that he was in close touch with Nachattar Singh alias Motti— already arrested by the Tarn Taran Police, and used to ferry his drug consignments on his blue-coloured BMW car. Pertinently, the BMW car was recently seized by the Amritsar Commissionerate Police.

Giving more details, AIG Navjot Singh Mahal said that the accused Har Sarpanch also used to collect money on behalf of Gangsters Lakhbir Landa and Happy Sanghera to further provide financial assistance and logistics support to their associates. Further investigations are on and more revelations by Har Sarpanch are expected soon, he added.

Pertinently, Canada-based Landa is considered to be the close aide of Pakistan-based wanted gangster Harvinder Singh alias Rinda, who had joined hands with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and they have close ties with the ISI.  Landa had played a key role in conspiring the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) terror attack at Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali and had also planted an IED beneath Sub-Inspector Dilbag Singh’s car in Amritsar.

Meanwhile, an FIR No. 29, dated 22.09.2022 had been registered under sections 10, 13, 18 and 20 of the UA(P) Act and section 25 of the Arms Act at SSOC Amritsar.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa on Saturday said that a state-level Swachh Bharat Diwas will be celebrated on October 2 at Hoshiarpur.

On this occasion, 23 panchayats of the state will be honoured with Rs 1 lakh each for proper maintenance of solid and liquid waste.

Likewise, three other panchayats will also be encouraged by giving cash price of Rs 10,000 to each panchayats. Apart from this, the best performing officers will also be honored. During this time, nukkad nataks, short films and other performances related to cleanliness will be the center of special attraction, the Minister further said.

Disclosing further, the Cabinet Minister said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is working diligently in supplying clean and potable water to the villages across the state. Similarly, the state has also lauded at the national level for the maintenance and management of solid and liquid waste in the villages.

He said that at present, clean water is being provided to all 8292 villages in 15 districts of the state including Hoshiarpur, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Jalandhar, Barnala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, SAS Nagar, Kapurthala, Mansa, Ludhiana, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Patiala and SB Nagar. These 15 districts will also be honoured during the function.

The Water Supply and Sanitation Minister further said that Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (Phase-II) has been launched in the state. Under this mission, proper arrangements for solid and liquid waste management would be made in all the villages of the state.

Jimpa said that efforts have been intensified to declare every village Open Defecation Free (ODF) by March 2025.

Pertinently, from September 15 to October 2, myriad of activities under special campaign will be organised by the government to spread awareness on the subject of garbage cleaning and waste management in the villages.

Meanwhile, Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Brahm Shanker Jimpa will be the chief guest while Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Jai Krishan Singh Rori will be the special guest on the occasion.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

 Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr. Chetan Singh Jauramajra today said that in order to promote normal deliveries instead of deliveries through Caesarean section, Punjab Health Department has set the ball rolling for setting up a new Midwifery Training Institute in Patiala.The Minister said that this  institute is being set up as per the Indian government’s “Guidelines on Midwifery Services in India” to prioritize investment in a dedicated cadre of professional midwives called  Nurse Practitioner in Midwifery (NPM). He said that this is one of the 16 Training institutes across India where training would be provided to Midwife Educators who, in turn, would develop the cadre of NPM. Punjab is third state after Maharashtra and UP to Start this National Midwifery Training Institute in government sector.The Minister said that Midwifery led care is a paradigm shift which can address many issues that our state faces in terms of MCH services. Punjab MMR has also increased in recent times due to covid-19 pandemic when all resources were diverted toward covid. MMR in Punjab currently stands at 114 as per the latest SRS data released in March 2022. Bringing midwifery practices to the centre stage will not only help to reduce the MMR but also improve the quality of care around childbirth and decongest higher levels of facilities.Disclosing more about this new initiative Health and Family Welfare Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra stated that one National Midwifery Training Institute (NMTI) has been commissioned at the Mata Kaushalya School of Nursing at Patiala. The institute is selected as one of the NMTIs because of its state-of-art training infrastructure, access to a functional Obstetric department at its parent hospital, attached high load clinical practice site, and its willingness to initiate a new course.It is envisioned that the National Midwifery Training Institute at Patiala will serve as model teaching institute and pedagogic resource centre for the midwifery training for several states.For the trainings of Midwifery Educators at this school of nursing, three International Midwifery Educators from New Zealand, England and Kenya have also been brought in by the State Government in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund, who will teach first batch of 30 for a 18 month course.It is pertinent to mention here that the first batch has already been started since September 21, 2022.Director Health Services (Family Welfare) Dr. Ravinderpal Kaur stated that this initiative will lead to a compassionate and respectful birth experience for a pregnant woman in government health facilities. Under this program a Midwifery led care unit (MCLU) will be established near the labour room of a health facility and first such unit in the state will come up at Mata Kaushalaya Hospital Patiala.NPM will provide skilled , maternal, reproductive and newborn child-related health care services in a respectful manner to accomplish the sustainable development goals for maternal and newborn.

IEP Chandigarh/ Sunam Udham Singh Wala, October 1

Information & Public Relations, New & Renewable Energy Sources and Housing & Urban Development Minister Mr. Aman Arora, on Saturday, formally inaugurated the paddy procurement in Sangrur district from the new grain market of Sunam Udham Singh Wala.

On this occasion, the Cabinet Minister said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was committed to provide every required facility in the grain markets to the farmers. He assured the farmers that they will not be facing any problem in the markets during the current paddy season. He also kick started the bidding of paddy crop brought by farmer Sukhjinder Singh, a resident of Model Town, following which the crop was purchased on the spot.

While addressing a gathering of farmers and commission agents, the cabinet minister said that flying squads have been deployed to monitor the arrival of paddy in the markets and on the entry points of the district to prevent any kind of bogus or illegal procurement during the season. Mr Arora said that the Punjab government was committed to ensure hassle-free procurement and lifting of paddy grain.

He said that the district administration officials have given clear guidelines to remain active regarding paddy procurement activities including lifting, availability of gunny bags, transportation, labor, electricity, potable water and toilet facility.

The cabinet minister said that all grain markets were being monitored by sub-divisional magistrates and all the government procurement agencies have been ordered to strictly follow the instructions of the government.

On this occasion, president Arhtiya Association Amrik Singh Dhaliwal, Mukesh Juneja, SDM Jaspreet Singh, DFSC Narinder Singh, Madan Gopal, Tarsem Tolawalia, Harmesh Nagra, Sethi Kularan, Manpreet Bansal along with a large number of farmers, arhtiyas, palledars were also present.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal while chairing a high-level meeting of the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional and Deputy Commissioner held here in the late evening said that farmers should be encouraged to register their crop damage on the e-Fasal Kshatipoorti portal so that they can get timely compensation of the same. Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala also remained present during the meeting.

“The State Government is committed towards ensuring complete transparency in the verification and compensation for crop loss. Therefore I urge the farmers’ brothers to individually update their crop loss information on this portal so that they do not face any kind of delay or trouble in getting compensation,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.

While directing the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that the farmers should upload their data within three days, the Chief Minister said that once any farmer updates the information about his crop loss, then the concerned Patwari, Kanungo should ensure verification of the data uploaded by the farmer within seven days. Besides this, the Tehsildars should also start the verification of the same at their own level so that the farmers can get fair compensation for their loss, said Sh. Manohar Lal.

Ensure timely drainage of water from waterlogged areas

While directing the Deputy Commissioners to ensure timely drainage of water from waterlogged areas, the Chief Minister said that every Deputy Commissioner should work on a war footing to resolve the water logging problems. Proper cleaning of drains should be done to avoid flood-like situations created due to untimely heavy rains, said the Chief Minister.

Ensure timely redressal of complaints received on CM window, Chief Minister

The Chief Minister said that timely redressal of complaints received on the CM window should be ensured so that the complainants do not have to make several rounds of the offices for the redressal of their grievances.

He further directed that the Deputy Commissioner should clear all the pendency of the applicants related to arms license. Verification of the applications should also be ensured in a time-bound manner, added Sh. Manohar Lal.

Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. D.S Dhesi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Dr. Amit Agrawal and Deputy Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. K. Makarand Pandurang also remained present in the meeting.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

 The players of Haryana, who won more than half the medals in the Olympic, and Commonwealth Games, are now again shining bright in the 36th National Games as well.  

Haryana continues to top the medal tally with 16 medals including 9 gold medals in these ongoing games in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. So far, the state players have won 3 silver and 4 bronze medals.  Due to the stunning performances of both sons and daughters of State, Haryana is dominating in the National Games.

Congratulations to the medal winners, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has wished them to continue giving outstanding performances in the upcoming games as well. 

The Chief Minister said that it is only because of the hard work of the players of the state, today Haryana has made an incredible mark in the field of sports. Inspired by the Sports Policy of the State, other states are also willingly following the State’s Sports Policy. 

“I hope that the state players by giving brilliant performance will keep the pride of the tricolour high and will continue to make the Country and the State proud,” asserted Sh. Manohar Lal.  

Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, S. Sandeep Singh has also congratulated the players for this achievement.  

He said that the State Government under the leadership of the Chief Minister is committed to promoting sports continuously and providing all kinds of possible assistance to the sportspersons.

State Wrestlers win 5 gold

In Haryana’s favourite sport wrestling, no other state could stand in front of the Haryanvi players. The State has won 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in wrestling.

In the 87 kg Greco-Roman category, Haryana’s Sunil defeated Harpreet Singh of  Punjab and Haryana’s Ashu defeated Karanjeet Singh of Punjab in the 67 kg Greco-Roman category and won gold medals.  

Similarly, in the 97 kg freestyle category, Haryana’s Deepak defeated Sahil of Punjab to bag gold.   In the same category, Haryana’s Parveen Kumar won the bronze medal.

In the 57 kg freestyle category, the final match was between the players of Haryana, in which Aman won the gold medal, while Udit bagged the silver medal.

In the 62 kg freestyle girls’ wrestling, Manisha from  Haryana won the gold medal by defeating Shafali who also hailed from Haryana only. Apart from this, Haryana’s Reetika won the bronze medal in 76 kg freestyle wrestling.

Haryana wins gold defeating Maharashtra in rugby game

In the 36th National Games in the rugby game, the players of Haryana also surprised everyone as they defeated the Maharashtra team by a huge margin of 19-7 and won the gold medal for the Haryana. 

In the netball team event, both boys and girls teams of the State brought laurels by winning gold medals.  Apart from this, Haryana’s Anish won the gold medal in 25m rapid fire pistol, Soumyajit Ghosh won a silver medal in the boys’ table tennis singles category, Manpreet Kaur won a bronze medal in shot put and Renu Chikara won a bronze medal in the hammer throw.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Sh. J.P Dalal and Additional Chief Secretary  Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare Department, Dr. Sumita Misra visited Cranfield University in Bedford, a premier institute in the UK for Research and development of post-harvest technologies.

This University shall be part of the consortia of the University of Birmingham that has signed an MoU with Haryana.

The Cranfield University will help Haryana to further develop applied research on the fundamentals of postharvest physiology; pre-harvest factors, biochemistry, ripening, Preservation methods, cool chain, packaging, ethylene, specialist treatments, Postharvest diseases, physiology, pathology, principles of disease control, Quality control; biochemical changes, assessment methods and Food waste management.

The proposed ‘Centre for Post-Harvest and Cold Chain Management’ shall have various units where applied research will be conducted. This Centre shall develop post-harvest solutions that will help farmers and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)  to address their solutions. The Centre will also have an incubation Centre, Startup an ecosystem where budded entrepreneurs can start and establish their businesses.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

The Final Round Conference of The Governance Challenge (TGC) was organized at PWD Rest House in Panchkula in which 6 finalist teams pitched their solution to the Haryana, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal.NMIMS Mumbai emerged as the winner of the first edition of TGC 2022. The Chief Minister honoured the winning team with a trophy, and certificate and also presented them with a cheque of Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, a trophy, certificate and a cheque of Rs. 3 lakh was handed over to the IIM Bangalore team, which finished second, while a trophy, certificate and cheque worth Rs. 1 lakh was given to IIM Kozhikode, which came third.Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that organizing such programme is very important not only for Haryana but also for other states, country and the world because today governance has become a broad subject.“When I took oath as the Chief Minister in the year 2014, many said that I have no experience of how a Chief Minister works, but we certainly had the experience of serving the people and developing a citizen-friendly system. Taking this experience a step further we decided to celebrate December 25, as Good Governance Day and also took a new initiative, CM Window was started, which today is yielding positive results,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.The Chief Minister said that in the last 8 years, more than 10 lakh complaints have been received on CM Window, out of which 90 percent of complaints have been resolved. Now the common man can directly send their grievances to the government while sitting at home through the online system.In the last 8 years, the state government did more than 100 works of system changeThe Chief Minister said that taking a big step for the convenience of the teachers, an online teacher transfer policy was started in Haryana, which today is being followed by other states also. Thus, in the last 8 years, the state government has done more than 100 works of system change to ensure better service delivery to the common man.We are working on the 5S mantraSh. Manohar Lal said that 5S that is Shiksha, Swasthaya, Suraksha, Swabhiman and Swavlambhan are the basic necessities and realizing the same the present State Government is continuously working towards fulfilling these basic needs.Education should be imparted in such a way that gives a feeling of nationalism. Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi has called for the implementation of the New Education Policy – 2020, because only through education a person can become cultured, asserted the Chief Minister.Sh. Manohar Lal said that in today’s era more emphasis is being laid on skill development besides academics  Realizing the same, Haryana Government has also established Shri Vishwakarma Skill University in the state to promote skill development. In this, skill training is being imparted to the youth in various fields.He said that youth should aim to become job givers instead of job seekers. This can be realized only when they will become skilled. It is pivotal that the Youth should be targeted to do something for the country and for this it is necessary to organize a programme like The Governance Challenge.PPP Haryana government’s ambitious schemeThe Chief Minister said that Haryana has continuously tried new experiments to change the system. He said that it was not possible to collect the real time data of the population, so the State Government started a unique scheme – Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) in which authentic, verified and reliable data of all families in Haryana has been created in a digital format.Today, through PPP, the benefits of government schemes are being extended to eligible persons and families. The beneficiaries are no longer required to make frequent rounds of the government offices to take advantage of government schemes as they can get the same while sitting at their homes only.  On one hand, this system has brought transparency in the distribution of benefits of various welfare schemes; while on the other ineligible people have also been automatically excluded. From getting admission in schools to getting the benefits of the old age pension, ineligible people have been identified and excluded from the benefits list.New initiative taken in the interest of farmersThe Chief Minister said that taking a step further to ensure the welfare of the farmers, the State government has started the Meri Fasal – Mera Byora Portal, on which the farmer himself can enter the details of their land and crop. Similarly, taking another new initiative in their interest, the e-Fasal Kshatipoorti portal has been started on which the farmer individually update their crop loss information. Once any farmer updates the information about his crop loss, then the concerned Patwari, Kanungo should ensure verification of the data uploaded by the farmer within seven days so that they can get timely compensation of the same, informed Sh. Manohar Lal.He said that by using IT, Haryana is swiftly shifting towards e-governance to ensure the delivery of citizen-centric services to the grassroot levels in a fair and transparent manner.“Becoming a cultured citizen certainly plays a significant role in the development of society. The government, NGOs and promising youth need to work together to build a civilized and prosperous society,” added Sh. Manohar Lal.The Governance ChallengeThe Governance Challenge (TGC) is a national governance case competition envisioned to engage the most talented youth of our country on governance issues. Haryana is the participating State for the inaugural edition of TGC.In TGC 2022, students from 30 business and policy schools in India are ideating on the theme- Making Haryana’s youth future ready for the changing livelihood opportunities of the next decade.There were total of three rounds in TGC 2022. In the campus round, teams submitted a three-minute executive pitch video and a one-page document sharing their understanding of the problem statement and proposing 2-3 innovative ideas to solve the same. The top team from each campus qualified for the next round.Notably, in the TGC, around 6,400 participants from more than 2,100 teams go themselves registered, out of which more than 700 teams submitted presentations and 26 teams were declared campus winners.In the second round, teams presented to a jury panel of IAS officers Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Joint Secretary, Government of India and Former Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram, Sh. Amit Khatri and industry leaders Prachi Jain Windlass, Senior Director, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation; Mekin Maheshwari, Co-founder, ACT Grants. The top 6 teams qualified for the final round.

IEP Chandigarh, October 1

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala while holding a review meeting with the officers concerned here today directed them to complete the work of consolidation across the state by April 2023.

Sh. Chautala further directed the officers to speed up the pending consolidation work. He said that if required the vacant post of the staff required to complete the said work should also be filled soon.

Deputy Chief Minister has assigned the duty of Revenue Advisor, Sh. R.K Garg to expedite the consolidation work to be done in 35 villages of the Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts. Sh. R.K Garg has been directed to take regular meetings with officers and employees in both districts and submit his report in 45 days. Along with this, the Deputy Commissioners of many districts presented the report on consolidation work done in their districts.

On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, Sh. V.S Kundu, Deputy Commissioners, District Revenue Officers and many other officers were present.

Numberdars to get Ayushman Bharat benefits

Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that now numberdars of the state will also get the Ayushman Bharat scheme benefits.

The Deputy Chief Minister also held a meeting in this regard here today, in which Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, Sh. V.S Kundu, Additional Chief Secretary Health Department, Smt. G. Anupama and officers of the Finance Department remained present. Soon an MoU would be signed with the Health Department in this regard, said Sh. Dushyant Chautala.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, medical assistance is provided up to Rs. 5 lakh per year per eligible family in the state. Under this, numberdars will be able to avail benefits in the event of illness and will also be able to get treatment facilities in the hospitals included in the schedule of the Haryana government.

Haryana is  fully prepared for the Kharif procurement

The Deputy Chief Minister said that the government is fully prepared for the purchase of Kharif crops in the mandis. For this, elaborate arrangements have been made in all the mandis.

Talking to media persons here today, Sh. Chautala said that this time a mobile app has also been prepared for the convenience of the farmers. He said that the compensation for crop damage due to rain in 2021 has been released in three installments. This time the incidents of crop damage have been sought from the district officials, on the basis of which compensation will be given to the farmers.

          The Deputy Chief Minister said that preparations are on for the launch of Gurugram Global City after Deepawali. This global city will be built on 1008 acres and investment is expected to be up to Rs. 1 lakh one lakh crore. In addition, a two-day Investors Meet event is also organized in the UAE for investors.