IEP Chandigarh, December 30

Punjab Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann released a poster of ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’ to be organised in the memory of Late Punjab Minister Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora, the father of Mr. Aman Arora, Minister of Information and Public Relations, Punjab.          After release of the poster at CMR here, Mr. Aman Arora said that Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Sunam Super League under the banner of ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’ will be organised and sponsered by Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation at Shaheed Bhai Mati Dass Senior Secondary School, Longowal from February 4 to February 5, 2023.          Pertinently, Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation has been organising medical camps and carrying out other social works for the welfare of public for over a decade.          Revealing more details about the ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’, the Cabinet Minister said that three categories of sports— Volleyball Shooting, Volleyball Smashing and Tug of War, will be organised to promote sports culture at the ground level as per the commitment of Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann, who is ardent sports lover and himself a good player of volleyball shooting.          Recently, Mann Government had also organised the three-month long sports gala “Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan” to identify hidden talent and thereafter hone that talent to produce international level sportspersons from the state.          The Cabinet Minister said that winner teams of these three events will be bestowed with cash prizes along with trophies.           Mr. Aman Arora informed that Padma Shri heavyweight International Boxer Kaur Singh, Gold medal winner of Asian Games and Padma Shri Sunita Rani, Gold Medalist Athlete of Asian Games, will be felicitated at the tournament. Sports kits will also be distributed to all the participating teams. Last date for registration of teams is January 20, 2023, he added.

IEP Chandigarh, December 28

Making optimum use of the internet to provide hassle-free services to people at their doorsteps, Punjab Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department has adopted a new mantra to bring far more efficiently while ensuring time-bound services to the people in a transparent manner.

The creation of a robust online system is among the various people-centric initiatives taken by the Housing & Urban Development Minister Mr. Aman Arora in 2022, to live up to the promise made by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann to provide an honest and transparent model of governance.

The single portal designed by the H&UD offers numerous services including regularization of plots and buildings, Change of ownership, and procuring NOCs, etc at a click, that too in a mandated timeline. Earlier, an applicant had to make numerous rounds to the government offices to get these basic services done.

Giving a major reprieve to the people who bought properties in unauthorized colonies, the H&UD department has introduced a facility for online submission and processing of applications on the regularization portal www.punjabregularization.in for obtaining NOC. Further, the timeline for issuance of NoCs has also been reduced to 15 working days from the earlier stipulated period of 21 days to ensure quick and timely disposal of applications.

Pertinently, this facility of regularization could be availed only by those allottees/residents whose properties fall under the unauthorized colonies developed before March 19, 2018.

Earlier, the applications were processed offline so the applicants had to wait a long time for getting issued the NOC. Now, the portal extends a large number of facilities such as online submission of applications, online payment, status checking of applications, and online disposal of the same. This one single portal is designed for the regularization of plots and buildings falling within MC and outside the MC area for quick disposal of applications.

To fix accountability in the functioning and ensure all the services in time bound manner, In first, the H&UD department has also made digitally signed permissions accessible to the owners of their properties, thereby bringing in 100 percent transparency in the functioning of the department, which will further create a mechanism that people won’t need to file RTI to access these permissions. “I have been personally monitoring the status of online services and delay in disposal of any application will not be tolerated,” reiterated Mr. Aman Arora.

All the applications regarding these 25 services are being processed online; besides providing services i.e. real-time tracking of applications, issuance of digitally signed certificates and intimation through SMS alert.

The following services can be availed online; Change of ownership, change of ownership (death case unregistered will), change of ownership (death case all legal heirs), change of ownership (death case registered will), issuance of CD, issuance of CD for extended area, issue of no due certificate (NoC), issue of re-allotment letter, permission for sale/gift/transfer, permission to mortgage, permitting professional consultancy services, transfer of letter of intent (LoI), transfer permission (before CD), demarcation of plot, issue of completion certificate/ occupation certificate, issue of completion certificate/ occupation certificate- private property, issue of DPC – Private Properties, issue of DPC certificate, certificate of Registration as Estate Agent, certificate of registration as a promoter, registration of Architect, issuance of temporary sewerage connection (for construction purpose), regularization of water connection, sanction of sewerage connection and sanction of water supply.

ZERO-TOLERANCE TOWARDS DELAY IN SERVICE DELIVERY

Adopting zero-tolerance towards delay in service delivery to the people of the state, the H&UD department has issued show-cause notices to 42 officials, besides charge-sheeting three officials— two Senior Assistants and an Assistant Estate Officer, for dereliction of duty. The department has put in place an online mechanism in which applications and files received by the Department are being monitored by senior officials and by the Minister Mr. Aman Arora himself. This strict action was taken after Mr. Aman Arora found out that the maximum pendency was at the level of the 45 officials across the department, who were issued show-cause notices, while three have been charge-sheeted for not responding to the show-cause notices and for dereliction of duty.

IEP CHANDIGARH/GURDASPUR, December 28:        

  In yet another major success against trans-border smuggling networks amidst the ongoing war against drugs launched on the directions of Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police have arrested two drug smugglers after recovering 10 packets of heroin, weighing 10Kg, from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.           Those arrested have been identified as Harshdeep Singh of Village Thaman in Gurdaspur and Sarwan Singh alias Sabba of Shahur Kalan in Gurdaspur. The Police have also recovered two .30 bore foreign-made pistols along with four magazines and 180 live cartridges from their possession.           The development came just three days after Punjab Police had busted an elaborate trans-border drug smuggling cartel with the arrest of its two kingpins after recovering 10Kg heroin and one sophisticated drone from their possession.           DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following reliable inputs, Police teams of Counter Intelligence (CI) Pathankot carried out a special operation near village Thaman in Gurdaspur and successfully arrested both the drug smugglers, when they were walking to their home after retrieving consignment of drugs and weapons pushed by Pakistan-based smugglers through fences with the help of a pipe at Border Outpost (BOP) Chauntra (Dorangala, Gurdaspur). Preliminary investigations revealed that both the drug smugglers were in contact with Pak-based smuggler identified as Rehmat Miyan, he added.           AIG CI Pathankot Amarjit Singh Bajwa said that accused Sarwan is a notorious drug smuggler and had even served seven years imprisonment before being bailed out in 2018. Further investigations are on, he said.           Meanwhile, a case FIR no. 38 dated 28.12.2022 has been registered under section 21/61/85 of the NDPS Act and section 25/54/59 of the Arms act Police Station SSOC Amritsar. 

IEP Chandigarh, December 28

Giving importance to the education sector is the top priority of the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. In the higher education sector, the government fulfilled the demand of teachers of colleges and universities which was pending for the last six years.          Higher Education and Languages Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that in the very first year, the Bhagwant Mann government took a big step to implement the UGC 7th Pay Commission for teachers of colleges and universities in Punjab. With this decision implemented in the month of October, teachers will get a financial benefit of Rs. 280 Cr from the government exchequer. Along with this, the salaries of the guest faculty and part-time teachers working in the colleges were increased and they were given various types of holidays.          In order to give due respect to the Punjabi language, the month of November dedicated to Punjabi mother tongue was celebrated as Punjabi Month by the Language Department. During this month, in a state-level function at Amritsar, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took a major decision and announced to give top priority to Punjabi language on all boards till February 21, 2023 across the state. On any government, private or other board, Punjabi language must be written at the top, after that any language can be written. Penalties will be imposed for non-compliance with these orders after International Mother Language Day, on February 21.          Prizes were given to the authors selected for the best books at Bhasha Bhawan, in the beginning of Punjabi month. Apart from this, events dedicated to great literary figures were organized throughout the month. Waris Shah, Bhai Veer Singh, Balwant Gargi, Nanak Singh, Sant Ram Udasi, Ajmer Aulakh were remembered through various events. A budget of Rs. 30 crore was kept for new district libraries.          This year the story writer Sukhjit was selected for the Bharatiya Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Main Ayanghosh Nahin’ and Bhupinder Kaur Preet for the translation of tribal poetry book ‘Nagare Wang Vajde Shabad’ which was a matter of pride for Punjab.          During the year Rs. 5 Cr for sports, Rs 10 Cr for digital classrooms with e-content, Rs. 5.39 Cr for provision of sanitary napkins for girls, Rs. 11.50 Cr for solar system for the colleges of the state, were released. For the NCC infrastructure improvement and provision of facilities in units and training centers, Rs. 5 Cr were released. 

IEP Chandigarh, December 28

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mr. Kultar Singh Sandhwan discussed various important issues with Telangana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mr. Pocharam Srinivas Reddy. During the meeting both the leaders shared their experiences regarding the functioning of the Vidhan Sabha.On the invitation given by the Speaker of the Telangana Vidhan Sabha, Mr. Sandhwan reached the Telangana Vidhan Sabha and met the Speaker Mr. Reddy. Many MLAs were also present on this occasion.According to a spokesperson of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, both the leaders discussed legislative buisness as well as agriculture, dairy farming, culture, sports, science, technology etc. After the meeting Mr. Sandhwan said that he learned a lot during the discussion. On the occasion Mr. Sandhwan was warmly welcomed.

IEP CHANDIGARH, DECEMBER 28

The Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Shri Banwarilal Purohit in a message on the Gurpurab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, called upon  the people to rededicate themselves to the ideals and goals set out by the great Guru and work for creating a harmonious society, based on values of humanism and secularism.

       The Governor said that Guru Gobind Singh Ji, a saint soldier, symbolized the virtues of truth, righteousness and universal brotherhood. He was a great warrior and launched a crusade against social injustice and tyranny of the rulers of those times. Sacrifice made by Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji who sacrificed his four sons, father and mother for preserving human and secular values are rare in the annals of mankind.

       He appealed to the people to strive in unison for carving out a healthy and harmonious society by following the precious legacy of the tenth Guru and celebrate the occasion irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

IEP Bidar/Chandigarh, December 27

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan Honored with S. Joga Singh Ji Kalyana Award at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar.

According to a spokesperson of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, this award was presented by the Governor of Karnataka Mr. Theewar Chand Gehlot during an impressive ceremony last evening. S. Sandhwan studied engineering from this college and this award is given to the prominent alumni of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar. The ceremony was organized by Sri Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib Foundation Bidar in the college campus.

 Gehlot mentioned the achievements of S. Sandhwan during his address. On this occasion S. Sandhwan recalled his student life and thanked the management of the foundation. It is to be noted that S. Sandhwan is currently on a tour of the Southern Indian states. S. Sandhwan also bowed at Takht Sri Hazur Sahib where the Chief Jathedar S. Kulwant Singh welcomed him.

IEP Chandigarh, December 27

The Punjab Government has declared a Gazetted holiday in the state on December 28, 2022 in view of Shaheedi Sabha to be held at Sri Fathegarh Sahib-2022.Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson said that on the occasion of Shaheedi Sabha at Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, all the government offices, boards/corporations and government educational institutions of the state of Punjab will remain closed on December 28, 2022 (Wednesday). A notification in this regard has been issued by the Personnel Department, Punjab Government.This holiday is declared as a holiday under the interpretation of Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act-1881.