Chandigarh, January 16

Union Minister for Power, Housing, and Urban Development, Manohar Lal, has entered Delhi’s electoral battlefield with full vigor. The BJP leadership has placed their trust in him by including him in the list of star campaigners and assigning him the responsibility of overseeing the nomination filing of BJP candidates. On Thursday, he filed the nomination papers for BJP candidates in Tilak Nagar and Rajouri Garden. During the roadshows accompanying the nomination process, Manohar Lal has been strongly critical of corruption and negligence in development under Delhi’s AAP government. He also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” to the public.

Through public meetings, Manohar Lal has effectively exposed the failures of the Delhi government, addressing issues ranging from floods to the deteriorating condition of the Yamuna River, scarcity of drinking water, and inadequacies in education and healthcare under the AAP regime.

On Thursday, Union Minister Manohar Lal filed the nomination papers for BJP candidate Shweta Saini from the Tilak Nagar Assembly constituency. Haryana’s Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda was also present on the occasion. Manohar Lal expressed confidence that the people of Tilak Nagar are eager for change and that this time, they will show the corrupt AAP government the door. Additionally, he filed the nomination papers for BJP candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa from Rajouri Garden. Earlier, Manohar Lal had also filed the nomination for BJP candidate Vijender Gupta from the Rohini Assembly constituency, who is contesting to achieve a hat-trick of victories.

Delhi’s People Ready to Rid Themselves of the AAP Government: Manohar Lal

During the election campaign, Union Minister Manohar Lal labeled the Delhi AAP government as a “disaster government,” stating that the last ten years have brought significant disasters to Delhi. However, he emphasized that the people of Delhi are now in the mood for change and ready to accelerate the city’s development with a “double-engine government.” He alleged that corruption has increased under the AAP regime, citing the “Sheesh Mahal” and liquor scams as major examples. He pointed out that AAP leaders, including ministers, have been jailed on corruption charges and are now out on bail, misleading the public through deceptive campaigns. Manohar Lal asserted that on February 5, the people of Delhi will press the button to oust the AAP “disaster government,” and by February 8, Delhi will have a double-engine government.

Chandigarh, January 16 

Under the able leadership of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann and the guidance of Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Dr. Baljit Kaur, the department is working diligently to ensure the welfare of Divyang persons. As part of this effort, the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department has appointed grievance redressal officers under Section 23 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, to address their complaints. 

Sharing details about the initiative, Dr. Baljit Kaur stated that grievance redressal officers have been appointed at various departments, boards, corporations, universities and other government institutions across the state to effectively resolve the issues faced by Divyang Persons. A notification in this regard has  been issued. 

The Minister further explained that the appointed grievance redressal officers will resolve complaints related to discrimination, workplace challenges and career progression for Divyang Persons. She highlighted that investigations into any complaints must be completed within two weeks of receipt. 

Dr. Baljit Kaur directed the officers to maintain a proper record-keeping process while resolving complaints to ensure transparency and accountability. She reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to the welfare and empowerment of Divyang Persons. 

Additionally, the Minister instructed department officials to make the names and contact numbers of the grievance redressal officers appointed by various departments, boards, corporations and universities available on the department’s official website within one month.  Minister also directed the officials to promptly prepare a telephone directory of the grievance redressal officers.

This initiative underscores the Punjab Government’s dedication to fostering an inclusive environment and ensuring that the rights of Divyang Persons are upheld with sincerity and efficiency.

Chandigarh, January 16

          In order to ensure foolproof security arrangements in wake of forthcoming Republic Day-2025, Punjab Police on Thursday conducted a special Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) at and around all the Railway Stations across the state.

          The operation was conducted under the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav from 1 pm to 3 pm simultaneously in all 28 Police districts under which Police teams with the assistance of sniffer dogs frisked people arriving and departing at Railway Stations.

          Special Director General of Police (Special DGP) Law and Order Arpit Shukla, who was personally monitoring this state-level operation, said that all the CPs/SSPs were asked to deploy at least two Police teams per Railway Station under the supervision of gazetted rank officers to carry out this operation. Police Personnel were strictly advised to deal with every person in a friendly and polite manner during the course of this operation, he said.

          He said that around 250 Police parties, involving over 2300 Police Personnel, were deputed across the state to look for suspicious persons at different Railway Stations in the state, while ensuring minimum inconvenience to the general public.

          As many as 3299 persons were frisked during the operation conducted at 169 Railway Stations in the state, he said, while adding that 173 suspicious persons were detained for questioning.

          Apart from this, police teams were also asked to carry out checking of all the stationed vehicles around the railway stations by using the Vahan app, said the Special DGP, while adding that teams have checked as many as 2593 vehicles stationed at different parkings around railway stations, of which, 246 were issued traffic challans and 18 vehicles have been impounded.

Chandigarh January 16

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, has arrested deed writer Deputy Singh, working in tehsil complex Faridkot, red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of Rs. 5000 in the name of Tehsildar.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the VB said the above mentioned accused has been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Parmjit Singh, a resident of village Tehna, in Faridkot district.

Giving further details, he added that the complainant has approached the VB and informed that he had purchased a land in village Tehna in the name of his mother and in connection with registration of this land he has met the above said deed writer for writing of documents required for registration process who has demanded Rs 20000 so as to pay the money to the officer/officials of tehsil for this purpose. After submitting the documents in the office of Tehsildar Faridkot, the said accused has asked the complainant to pay the bribe money through Google pay and the complainant has paid Rs 15000. The accused has been demanding the remaining amount of Rs 5000 from the complainant who has recorded the conversation with the said deed writer on his phone regarding giving bribe, which was submitted to the VB as an evidence.

The spokesperson said that after a preliminary enquiry of this complaint, the team of VB laid a trap during which accused Deputy Singh has been apprehended red-handed while he was accepting the second instalment of bribe of Rs. 5000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.

 In this regard, a case has been registered against the said accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act at the VB police station Ferozepur range. The accused would be produced in the competent court tomorrow. Further investigation of this case was under progress.

Chandigarh, January 16

In a bid to bolster the state’s cyber security infrastructure by enhancing the defence mechanisms of the state’s digital landscape, Punjab Government has decided to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC) to ensure the protection of critical IT infrastructure including various applications and websites of the state government.

This significant decision was taken in 19th meeting of the Board of Governors of Punjab State e-Governance Society (PSeGS) chaired by Mr. Aman Arora, Minister of Governance Reforms and Public Grievances Punjab, here at MGSIPA, on Thursday.

With the implementation of SOC, to be established at the cost of Rs. 42.07 crore, Punjab will become one of foremost states in Northern India with high level Cyber Security capabilities. In the digital age, cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and pervasive so the need to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC) for the State was increasing. It will enable monitoring, detecting and responding to cyber security incidents in real time for protection of our critical IT infrastructure, he informed.

 After this meeting, the Governance Reforms Minister held a video conference meeting with all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to discuss and review the key governance reforms and strategies to further improve citizen service delivery. He said that Punjab has 538 Sewa Kendras and 438 Government to Citizens (G2C) services are being delivered seamlessly. The state has successfully brought down pendency in citizen service delivery from 27% to less than 0.17%. He also lauded the DCs of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Pathankot for maintaining low pendency level in citizen service delivery, while asking all the DCs to ensure regular monitoring and review of district-level pendency to identify and resolve bottlenecks.

Mr. Aman Arora directed the DCs to identify and pull up the habitual delayers, who are sending applications back without solid reasons and putting unnecessary objections, while emphasizing on the importance of providing clear objection remarks on pending applications to enhance transparency and accountability.

While taking stock of the ambitious and pioneer project of the online verification of applications by Sarpanches, Nambardars and Municipal Councilors (MCs), Mr. Aman Arora directed the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that all Sarpanchs/Nambardars and MC are onboarded on the eSewa Portal within this month to eliminate the need for citizens to make multiple visits for document verification.  It was ordered that from 1st Feburary 2025, offline verification from Sarpanchs/Nambardars and MC shall be stopped and only online verifications shall be acceptables.

Additional Chief Secretary Governance Reforms Mr. Vikas Pratap assured the Cabinet Minister that the department is committed to provide hassle-free, efficient services to the public in a transparent manner to improve transparency and efficiency in citizen service delivery.

The meeting was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary Local Government Tejveer Singh, Director Governance Reforms Mr. Girish Dayalan, Special Secretary Revenue Mr. Harpreet Sudan, Additional Secretary School Education Parminder Pal Singh, Director Information Technology Mr. Mohinder Pal, Joint Secretary GAD Tejdeep Saini and other senior officials of the various state government departments.

Chandigarh, January 15

The Haryana Government has set a target of reducing 1,500 burdensome compliances and decriminalise 50 provisions (Business & Citizens) under Acts/Rules/Checklists by December 2025 in order to promote ease of doing business in the state.

This was disclosed at a review meeting for implementation and submission of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) and Reducing Compliance Burden (RCB) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr. Vivek Joshi here today. The Chief Secretary directed departments to involve their stakeholders for seeking inputs for the reform action plan.  Dr. Joshi said stakeholder feedback was crucial in the successful implementation of Business Reform Action Points. He also directed that the departments must adhere to the stipulated timelines set by the government for completion of tasks. The Chief Secretary directed the Industries and Commerce Department to also involve all Deputy Commissioners for suggestions on business reforms.

He directed officials of Hartron to ensure that the information on online portals is available to entrepreneurs in Hindi as well so that more people are able to avail the benefits of digital services. He also asked the departments to avail the services of Hartron to get translation of work from English to Hindi.

Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Sh. D Suresh said total 985 business and citizen compliances have been reduced, out of which 746 pertain to business category while 239 relate to the citizen category. Till now, 30 provisions have been decriminalized and 19 provisions are under review. The meeting was informed that suggestions have been invited to reduce compliance burden under 23 Acts of various departments. The structure of reforms across all 23 Acts is being done through 4 steps: Simplification of forms, procedures and documentation, Elimination of Redundancy under which outdated laws/provisions and unnecessary compliances are being repealed, Digitisation for transition from offline to fully online platforms and Decriminalisation of minor offences such as delays in submission and non-filing of returns. For BRAP-2024, total 435 reforms are to be undertaken by 15 February, 2025 across various departments.

Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Planning Departments and FCR, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Additional Chief Secretary, Town & Country Planning and Urban Estates, Sh. AK Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of Scheduled Castes & Backward Classes and Antyodaya (SEWA), Smt. G. Anupama and senior officers of various departments were present in the meeting.

Chandigarh, January 15

The Haryana Government will organize a Constitution Preamble Reading Programme across the state on January 17 at 11.00 am on the theme ‘Hamara Samvidhan, Hamara Swabhiman’. The programme will be organized in all mini secretariats and other offices of all the districts as well as all government and private schools, colleges, universities and local bodies (gram panchayats, municipal councils and municipal corporations).

A letter to this effect was written by the Chief Secretary’s Office to all the Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Managing Directors and Chief Administrators of Boards and Corporations, Vice Chancellors of all the universities of the state, Municipal Commissioners, Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) and Chief Executive Officers of District Councils.

The letter states that the Central Government has started a year-long historic celebration from November 26, 2024 to commemorate the completion of 75 years of adoption of the Constitution of the country. This decision reflects the remarkable journey of our democracy and the enduring legacy of our founding principles and Constitutional values. The purpose of these celebrations is to honour the Constitution makers by reiterating the basic values enshrined in the Constitution. The Constitution Preamble Reading Programme is also being organized in this series. It has also been asked to ensure public participation in these programmes.

Instructions have been given to the concerned officials that the design of the poster of the Preamble is being sent separately by the Department of Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture. It should be framed and put up in all government and private schools, colleges, universities, government offices, gram panchayats, municipalities, municipal councils and municipal corporations before the fixed date of the programme i.e. January 17.

Apart from this, the departments have been asked to ensure uploading of the reports of all these programmes/activities along with photographs/videos on the websites of the Central Government as well as send them to the e-mail ID of the Department of Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture myconstitutiondprl@gmail.com.