IEP CHANDIGARH, July 9     

     Continuing the spree of providing jobs to the youth of Punjab as committed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, another batch of 77 civilian candidates of the financial domain is going to join the Punjab Bureau of Investigation (PBI) of Punjab Police from Monday onwards, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday. From a total of 77 Financial Experts, 10 candidates will be joining as Financial Officers, while, 67 candidates (46 Male and 21 Female candidates) are Assistant Financial Officers.          The development came a little over a month after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had handed over appointment letters to 144 civilian candidates of legal experts and forensic experts during a function organised on May 18, 2023. With the joining of this batch the total number of Civilian Support Staff will reach 221.          DGP Gaurav Yadav said that this is the first Police Force in the country to recruit Civilian Support Staff in domains including legal, forensics and finance, which will not only enhance the investigation function through its effective separation from law & order but will also improve the efficacy of investigation and overall policing.          While welcoming the newly recruited batch into the Punjab Police family, he congratulated the youth for becoming an integral part of the Punjab Police. He said that to overcome major challenges faced by society today it is imperative that the Police force is updated as per requirements in the field of investigation, science and technology.          He said that all the candidates have been selected completely on the basis of merit and had done a lot of hard work to get this post. As directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Police have adopted a foolproof mechanism for the entire recruitment process so that candidates should not have to face any legal issues after joining, he added.          Director PBI LK Yadav said that all these officers, who are commerce/finance graduates and hold experience of seven years as Financial officers and two years of experience for Assistant Financial Officers, will help to curb the economic/financial related frauds. After the completion of mandatory training these newly recruited officers will be posted at different divisions/districts to support the Investigation Officer(s)/ Special Investigation Teams (SITs) in tracing the financial trail viz a viz bank accounts, balance sheets, account books etc. to locate the proceeds of crime, he added.          Meanwhile, the recruitment of Financial Officers will also help in implementing the process of attachment of property of criminals, especially drug smugglers, gangsters and terrorists. 

IEP CHANDIGARH, July 9      

    With Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ordered all the officers to remain alert amid the ongoing incessant rains in the region, Punjab Police have made extensive arrangements to deal with any kind of exigency arising out of potential floods, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.          He said that a state control room has been set up for flood mitigation and concerned officers have been asked to take hourly reports from districts to keep them updated about the current situation in their concerned districts.          Pertinently, DGP Gaurav Yadav and Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla have been personally supervising the situation in the state, while, CPs/SSPs have also been directed to remain in the field and personally monitor the situation in their concerned districts at regular intervals.          Divulging more details, Special DGP Arpit Shukla said that teams of the State Disaster Response Force (STRF) are on alert and fully prepared to tackle any kind of crisis, he said, while adding that the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been deployed in the flood-ravaged districts including SAS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib to carry out rescue operations and meet any exigency arising out of floods. Additionally, Army has also been asked to remain on alert, he added.          The Special DGP also urged people of the state not to panic and cooperate with the administration and police. He also appealed to the people residing in low-lying or flood-prone areas that they should move to safe places or relief centres set up by their concerned district administration for their safety.

IEP Chandigarh, July 09    

      Following the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann regarding the immediate assessment of the situation of the flood affected areas of the state in the wake of heavy rains in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shankar Jimpa, Power and PWD Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO and Health Minister Dr. Balbir Singh on Sunday visited various flood affected areas of the state to take stock of the situation and ongoing relief activities.          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Punjab government said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has directed the ministers, MLAs and officials of the state to be ready to deal with any situation arising due to heavy rain, and the Punjab government has made adequate arrangements in this regard. He said that following these directions the Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shankar Jimpa along with the senior officials of the respective districts visited the flood affected areas of Hoshiarpur and Adampur. On this occasion, Mr. Jimpa gave necessary directions to the officials and asked them to ensure all possible help to the flood effected people as per the directions issued by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He said that the Revenue Department has already started the process to release funds to deal with the flood like situation.          Divulging further, the spokesperson said that the Power and PWD Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO visited the flood affected villages Malowal and Dharar of Amritsar district. The minister directed the district administration to make arrangements for pumping out rain water accumulated in the fields and residential areas on priority. On this occasion, Deputy Commissioner Amritsar Amit Talwar apprised the Minister that the district administration has made all arrangements for any situation arising due to heavy rain. He informed the minister that the people in the areas adjacent to the river Ravi have already been informed about the release of water from the dam and adequate arrangements have been made to carry the people to the safe areas.          Meanwhile, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Patiala Sakshi Sawhney visited the flood-ravaged low-lying areas in Patiala rural and reviewed the situation at Vaddi Nadi and Chotti Nadi. He also called in JCB machines and pumping machines on the spot to get the accumulated water cleared from low-lying areas. On this occasion, Dr Balbir Singh urged the people not to panic as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government has made all the arrangements to deal with any exigency arising out of floods. 

IEPCHANDIGARH/BATALA, July 7

 Amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the vision of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Counter Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police in a joint operation with Central Agency and West Bengal Police have solved the Batala firing incident case after arresting the main accused from Indo-Bhutan Border in Alipurduar district in West Bengal, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.          The 21-years-old arrested accused has a criminal background and he was out on a bail in a murder case.          According to the information, Rajeev Mahajan, his brother Anil Gupta and his son Manav Gupta had sustained bullet injuries after two assailants barged into their electronics shop at Lakkar Mandi in Batala on June 24, 2023, and opened fire at them.          DGP Gaurav Yadav said that based on technical inputs and evidence, the Counter Intelligence, Punjab had located the accused person in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal. “Batala Police immediately dispatched a team for West Bengal, and also shared the pinpointed information with them,” he said.          He said that the Punjab Police in coordination with Central agency and West Bengal Police have arrested the accused person from Indo-Bhutan Border. He also thanked DGP of West Bengal for extending all kind of cooperation.          “The preliminary investigations revealed that the entire module was being handled from abroad and the arrested accused was receiving funds from foreign-based handlers to commit these kind of crimes,” said the DGP, while adding that investigation to establish a money trail is going on.          SSP Batala Ashwini Gotyal said that the Police are working on different leads and efforts are on to nab remaining accused persons in this case. Further investigations are on, she added.          An FIR no. 103 dated 24/6/2023 was registered under sections 452, 307 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station City Batala.

IEP Chandigarh, July 7         

  As a part of its ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Friday nabbed a Retired SDO Sudesh Kumar for accepting a bribe of Rs. 20,000 during his posting at Punjab Mandi Board Sub-division no.3, Tarn Taran district in 2016.          Revealing the details here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said that the accused SDO has been arrested on the complaint of Darshan Singh resident of Patti in Tarn Taran district.          He said that the complainant has approached the Police Station VB, Amritsar Range and lodged a complaint that Punjab Mandi Board had allotted the construction work of link roads in Tarn Taran district to L.T. Builders, owned by Darshan Singh. The accused SDO had demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in lieu of returning the security deposit of Rs 34,33,002 and he already took Rs.20,000 as a bribe from him.          The spokesperson informed that after preliminary investigation of this complaint, a FIR no. 09 dated 06-03-2023 under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against the accused SDO at Police Station VB, Amritsar Range and a team of VB today arrested him. Further investigations in this case are under progress, he added.

IEP CHANDIGARH/JALANDHAR, JULY 7

 Punjab Revenue Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa today launched the first Jan Maal Lok Adalat from Jalandhar to provide on-the-spot redressal to people’s complaints related to the revenue department. Over 1500 people participated in the Lok Adalat and 816 mutations were decided on the spot while 90 fresh complaints were received by the officials. The Minister directed the officials to ensure prompt resolutions to these complaints so that people could be benefited from the pro-people initiative.          Interacting with the media, the Revenue Minister said that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has taken some path-breaking initiatives to provide citizen services to people in a smooth and hassle-free manner. He further added that the Sarkar aap ke dwar initiative is a reflection of government’s priorities wherein the government is reaching out to people at all levels. The Chief Minister is holding cabinet meetings at several districts while field officials at district level visiting far-flung localities with an aim to provide the benefit of welfare program of the state government to masses.          Accompanied by Member Parliament Sushil Kumar Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural, MLA Raman Arora, Special Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal, and Chairman District Planning Board Amritpal, the minister said that on the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Jan Maal Lok Adalat has been introduced in the state wherein on-the-spot resolution to people’s complaints with respect to revenue departments is provided. He said that the Sub Division wise counters are set up under this Lok Adalat where applicants can visit to seek disposal to their pending applications.          Likewise, in another unique initiative Whats App helpline has also been rolled out in the state under which people can send their complaints with respect to the revenue department on the helpline number. These complaints get time-bound disposal as nearly 1400 complaints have been received through this Whats App helpline of which over 500 plaints have been resolved while the remaining issues were under procedure.          Pointing out further, Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal said that in today’s Lok Adalat as many as 816 mutations (contested/uncontested/division/transfer) have been decided on-the-spot by the revenue officials while a total of 90 fresh complaints have been received during the Lok Adalat which have been marked to officials concerned for their quick disposal.          Earlier, the revenue minister chaired a review meeting with the officials of the revenue department wherein he directed the officers/officials to ensure fast-track disposal of all types of cases, especially the partition and mutation cases. He said that the revenue department is directly connected with the people; thereby the state government has laid focus to make it more responsive and swift with respect to people’s grievances.  

IEP Chandigarh, July 6

Exposing the lie of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa that they don’t know about Mukhtiar Ansari, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday released letter written by Randhawa to Captain about the whole issue. The Chief Minister said that the letter  written by Randhawa to Captain on April 1, 2021 clearly shows that both these leaders were well aware of the entire incident. He said that surprisingly both these leaders are now feigning ignorance about issue and are trying to mislead the people. However, Bhagwant Mann said in reality both these leaders were hand in glove with each other to save the dreaded gangster. The Chief Minister said that these ‘experienced politicians’ tried their level best to save the dreaded gangster and ensure comfortable stay for him in jail. He said that it is surprising that these leaders are claiming that they are not aware that who came in jail or not but reality is that they themselves hatched the entire conspiracy to save Ansari. Bhagwant Mann said that these shameless leaders are misleading the people with their lies but their every sin will be exposed in coming days. The Chief Minister said that the honest government formed by the people of state will not allow the nefarious designs of these politicians to succeed. He said that they will be made accountable for every sin conducted against the state and its people. Bhagwant Mann further said that this was just tip of iceberg and he will bring real face of these leaders through number of proofs he has against these leaders. 

IEP Chandigarh, July 3

Punjab Legislative Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has urged farmers not to use dangerous chemical ‘Paraquat’ to ripe the moong crop.          Expressing grave concern over the trend of using hazardous chemicals by the farmers, Mr. Sandhwan said that excessive usage of various chemicals for agricultural production is causing dreadful diseases like cancer. He said that some farmers in the state are preferring to ripe the moong crop unnaturally by spraying chemical ‘Paraquat’. He said that while this chemical is harmful for crops, it is also extremely dangerous for human health.          Mr. Sandhwan further said that farmers are preferring to ripe moong by spraying this chemical on the standing crop instead of cutting and drying it. He said that ‘Paraquat’ is the chemical using for herbicides. He said that this chemical has not been recommended by the Agriculture Department or the Agriculture University but farmers are using to save the time.          Mr. Sandhwan has appealed to the farmers not to use this chemical keeping in view of the larger public interest and prefer to ripe the crop naturally.

IEP Chandigarh, July 3       

   Political parties will now be able to file their financial accounts online to the Election Commission. The measure has been enabled with the launch of a new web-portal (https://iems.eci.gov.in/) to facilitate the online filing of Contribution Report, Audited Annual Account and Election Expenditure Statement by the Political Parties. These financial statements are required to be submitted by political parties to the Election Commission/Chief Electoral Officers of States/Union Territories, as per the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 & transparency guidelines issued by the Commission, from time to time, over the last many years.          Divulging the details, CEO Punjab Sibin C informed that in a letter addressed to all political parties, ECI has said that the facility has been created with twin objectives: firstly, to facilitate political parties in overcoming the difficulties in physical filing of reports, and secondly, to ensure timely filing of financial statements in the prescribed/standardised formats. The online availability of the data is expected to enhance the level of compliance and transparency.          In the letter, the ECI pointed to the pivotal position of political parties, and stressed that it is incumbent on them to adhere to the principles of democratic functioning and transparency in electoral processes, particularly in financial disclosures.          The on-line portal also has a facility for sending reminders in the form of messages on the registered mobile number and registered emails of the authorised representatives of the political party so that the dates of compliances are not missed. A comprehensive guiding manual with graphical representations, and FAQs have also been sent to the political parties explaining the online module and the process of filing reports online.          He added that to give further guidance on the on-line filing, the ECI would also organise a hands-on training programme for the designated person(s) from various political parties. The political parties not wishing to file the financial report through online mode will have to convey the reasons for not filing on-line to the Commission in writing and may continue to file its reports in hard copy along with CDs/Pen drive in the prescribed formats. The commission will, in turn, publish all such reports online, along with a letter of justification sent by the party for not filing financial statements online. 

IEP Chandigarh, July 3     

     In a dream come true, the farmers of the state got canal water after decades on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to provide the same to them. For the first time in their lives, the new generation of farmers saw nature’s bounty irrigating their fields in the form of canal water.          It was stated by Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer during a press conference at Punjab Bhawan here today.          Meet Hayer lauded all the officers and employees of his department for the historic achievement and said that strengthening the canal water network is the main need of the hour to save the agriculture and groundwater of the state. He said that whereas the farmers are  getting canal water for the first time, the same was provided to cotton belt farmers during sowing season on their demand.          Meet Hayer further said that out of 15741 water courses closed in the state due to the non-availability of canal water for the last several decades, 13471 water courses were restored by the Water Resources Department during the last two and a half months. Now, out of a total of 47000 water courses in Punjab, only 2270 remain to be restored, regarding which the work is also going on a war footing. To restore the water courses, the government issued a notification and they were given government status instead of community water courses. Apart from this, the condition of repairing the water courses was abolished only after 25 years.          The Water Resources Minister said that the department has restored these closed water courses at a cost of Rs.  200 Crore through MGNREGA. Similarly, unutilized funds were also used. More than 20 percent of the canals in Punjab are running beyond their capacity due to which sufficient water is also reaching the tails.          The department also increased the capacity of BML, BDC and UBDC. He said that they are continuously getting the canals inspected by deploying Patwari to XENs of the department to ensure that canal water reaches the farmers. He said that till last year in Punjab only 21 percent of irrigation was done with canal water while the remaining 79 percent was done with underground water. The new initiative will significantly increase the area irrigated with canal water.          Meet Hayer further said that taking another big step, the revenue cases of canal water disputes which have been pending for a long time were resolved quickly. In one year, 4700 new cases of disputes came up while 5016 cases were solved by the department in which the backlog was also cleared. Now only 1563 cases are pending which will also be solved soon.          Giving details about the works being done to deal with the possible threat of floods in the rainy season, Meet Hayer said that the department has completed 318 flood prevention works at cost of Rs. 89.10 Crore before the season started. Among them, 193 drain cleaning works were completed with Rs. 39.53 Crore expenditure and 75 different flood prevention works were done with Rs. 46.43 Crore cost. Similarly, five machines were purchased by the department at the cost of Rs. 3.15 Crore which are being used for cleaning the drains. He said that with this, the department will now clean the drains throughout the year.          Principal Secretary Water Resources Krishan Kumar was also present on this occasion.