IEP Chandigarh, November 16

In a bid to ensure potable piped water supply in all rural households in the state, Punjab Chief Secretary Mr. Vijay Kumar Janjua on Wednesday directed Water Supply and Sanitation Department to cover all the remaining 2230 households in quality affected villages on the priority within this financial year.

          Chairing the 3rd meeting of Apex Committee of State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at his office, Punjab Civil Secretariat-1, here, the Chief Secretary reviewed the progress of ongoing projects of Water Supply and Sanitation. He directed the concerned officials to ensure 100 per cent coverage  of the rural households with Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) at the earliest as Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government is committed to provide potable water to each rural household of the state.

          He also directed Rural Development and Water Supply and Sanitation department officials to submit a road map within a week for achievement of targets under Swachh  Bharat Gramin.

          The Chief Secretary was apprised that the state has already covered 99.94 per cent (34.24 lacs out of 34.26 lacs) households with piped water supply. All the remaining 2230 households in quality affected villages will be provided with potable water supply in 2022-23. The department has already ensured 100 per cent saturation of households in terms of piped water supply through FHTCs in 11931 villages, 146 blocks and 20 districts of the state besides ensuring ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certification through special Gram Sabha in 11867 saturated villages, 133 blocks and in 16 districts.

          Discussing the Annual Action Plan 2022-23, the Chief Secretary asked the officials to ensure coverage of remaining households (including aspirational districts Ferozepur and Moga) with piped water supply to ensure Har Ghar Jal status in state, remaining 824 Water Quality affected villages with mitigation measures to ensure availability of potable piped water supply and remaining GP buildings and health centres with piped water supply should be ensured under this plan.

          He also directed to ensure regular testing of water samples through water testing labs and FTK. It was stated that out of reported coverage of households in State, 12.18 lac rural households are having Private sources. The Chief Secretary directed that all these private sources should be tested for chemical and other contaminants. In case of any quality issue, Water Supply and Sanitation department must ensure supply of potable piped water to these households from piped water supply schemes so that quality water is available to every households in State.

          Financial Commissioner Rural Development and Panchayats Mr. K Siva Prasad, Principal Secretary Planning Mr. Vikas Pratap, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Mr. DK Tiwari, Secretary Finance Ms. Garima Singh, HoD of DWSS Mr. Vipul Ujwal, Director Information and Public Relations Ms. Sonali Giri, Special Secretary Education Mr Varinder Kumar Sharma and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.

IEP Chandigarh, November 16

 The Punjab Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is fully committed to expand the forest cover in the State which stands proved by the fact that the target with regard to planting 1.20 crore saplings has been completed by the Forest and Wildlife Preservation Department.

 This was disclosed by the Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak while presiding over a review meeting of the department with the DFOs at the forest complex in Sector-68, Mohali.

 The Minister was apprised that the target for next year has been fixed at 3 crore saplings for which the department would leave no stone unturned. Besides, in comparison to the Rs. 36 crore income of the Punjab Forest Development Corporation pertaining during the previous year, the corporation is richer by Rs. 29 crore during the first 7 months of the present year and is all set to surpass the previous year mark. Also, the training program of the nursery in charges across the State would commence from November 17^th at Hoshiarpur with the incharges of nurseries in hilly areas being priority.

 The Minister emphasized implementing various initiatives such as ‘Pavitar Van’(Planting of saplings in 1 or 2 Hectare area), Nanak Bagichi, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Haryaval Lehar with renewed vigour so as to increase the green cover thus paving the way for a clean and green environment.

 Strongly advocating the development of Sadabrast forest in Ropar and Keshopur Chhamb in Gurdaspur, the Minister batted for providing facilities in these areas to become centres of attraction. Rooting for employees of the department donning uniforms, Mr. Kataruchak said that while on one hand this would accord a new look to the department on the other this would also lead to the increasing self confidence amongst the personnel. Directing the proper upkeep of the planted saplings, the Minister said that tree guards should be set up around them apart from painting them in the departmental colours of yellow and green. He also said that certain areas such as the Phagwara-Chandigarh road must be beautified with saplings of different kind with strict monitoring mechanism in place. The Minister also asked the officers of the department to adopt a tough stance against the illegal mining.

 Among others present on the occasion included the ACS cum Financial Commissioner (Forests and Wildlife Preservation) Raji P. Srivastava, PCCF R.K. Mishra, and APCCF (Admn.) Dharminder Sharma.

IEP Chandigarh

In order to promote Aadhaar usage by States/UTs, Regional Office (RO) Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Chandigarh organized a workshop for Chandigarh (U.T.) highlighting ‘Recent Initiatives for Simplifying Aadhaar Usage’ on 16th November,2022.

Over 70 senior officers from Chandigarh U.T. Government and Centre Government attended the workshop. Notable amongst them were Sh. Nitin Yadav, Home Secretary, Chandigarh, Sh. Yashpal Garg, Health Secretary, Smt. Nitika Pawar, Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Mrs. Hargunjit Kaur, Special Secretary (Finance), Sh. Rupesh Kumar, Director IT, Dr. Abhishek Jain, Director Census Operations and Sh. HPS Brar, Director School Education.

During three sessions of the workshop, presentations were given by UIDAI RO Chandigarh on features of Aadhaar, key developments on Usage of Aadhaar, Best Practices of Haryana/ Maharashtra/ Karnataka state, Aadhaar Eco System & CRM, Aadhaar Data Security & Aadhaar Data Vault and Authentication. Presentations were also given by Department of IT, Health, Education and Women and Child Development of the Chandigarh Government. National Payment Corporation of India gave a presentation on Direct Benefit Transfers and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System. The presentations also elaborated on m-Aadhaar app, Aadhaar online services and how UIDAI has made efforts to make enrolment and updation services a frictionless experience for the residents. Department of Post and India Post Payment Bank gave a presentation on their efforts to enhance the usage of Aadhaar.
Ms. Bhawna Garg, DDG UIDAI, RO Chandigarh, explained how Aadhaar has become the core of India’s digital public infrastructure. Aadhaar with its inherent features of Uniqueness, Authentication, Financial Address and e-KYC has helped the government authorities to directly reach residents for delivery of various subsidies, benefits and services. She further explained recent initiatives undertaken by UIDAI, how Aadhaar is verifiable anytime, anywhere both online and offline in a cost-effective way and how residents can check status of their bank linkage with Aadhaar through online portal.
Sh. Nitin Yadav, Home Secretary, Chandigarh Government congratulated and thanked UIDAI team for organizing this comprehensive and informative workshop and elaborated how Aadhaar is helping the Chandigarh U.T. in all its schemes. He emphasized the need for evolving the Events Based Approach towards the usage of Aadhaar so that it caters to the need of various services for the residents during their lifecycle.

IEP Chandigarh, November 16

The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is taking many revolutionary steps to provide corruption free administration and ensure quality development works in the state. Taking a step further in this direction, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has ordered an inspection and physical verification of the development works done during the last 5 years of the previous government. The minister said that the money given as grants to the villages is the people’s money, the loot of which will not be tolerated at all.          Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the people have made complaints to the Rural Development Department regarding irregularities in the development works in the villages during the previous government, especially many complaints from the people of the constituencies of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi and constituencies of many former ministers.          When this issue was discussed with the officials of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department during the meeting, the officials suggested that the inspection and physical verification of development works should be done.          Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the department took a decision in the first phase to carry out physical inspection of the development works in the major 46 blocks of the state; the department has issued orders to depute 17 deputy chief executive officers for this inspection and physical verification. The officers have been directed to complete this work within three months so that appropriate action can be taken against those involved in the malpractices.          During the meeting, the Rural Development Minister said that people are of the view that if they complain to the authorities, they do not conduct a fair investigation and people do not get justice. Therefore, this time they have appointed officials from other districts in this matter so that the fair picture can emerge.          According to the orders issued by the Rural Development and Panchayat Department Ranjit Singh (Deputy CEO) SAS Nagar has been deputed to verify the Patiala district blocks Patiala, Nabha and Patiala Rural, Vaneet Kumar Sharma (Deputy CEO) Patiala to verify Rupnagar district blocks Morinda, Rupnagar and Chamkaur Sahib, Paramjit Singh (Deputy CEO) Sangrur to verify Sri Fatehgarh Sahib district Block Amloh, Shavinder Singh (Deputy CEO) Barnala to verify Malerkotla district blocks  Malerkotla 1 and Ahmedgarh, Neeraj Kumar (DDPO Charge Deputy CEO) ) Hoshiarpur to verify S.A.S. district blocks Kharar and Majri, Rimpi Garg (Deputy CEO) Malerkotla to verify Sangrur district blocks Bhawanigarh and Sangrur, Sanjeev Kumar (Deputy CEO) Ferozpur to verify Ludhiana district blocks Khanna, Ludhiana 1 and Ludhiana 2, Dharmapal Singh (DDPO Charge Deputy CEO) Faridkot, to verify Kapurthala district blocks Dhillwan and Kapurthala, Sukhbir Kagaur (Deputy CEO) Jalandhar to verify Hoshiarpur district blocks Bhunga, Dasuha, Tanda, Hoshiarpur 1 and Hoshiarpur 2, Buddh Raj Singh (Deputy CEO) Amritsar Sahib to verify district Jalandhar blocks Jalandhar East and Roorka Kalan, Parampal Singh (DDPO- Charge Deputy CEO) Mansa to verify Gurdaspur district blocks Batala, Fatehgarh Churidi and Dinanagar, Gurdarshan Lal Kundal (BDPO Charge Deputy CEO) Pathankot to verify Gurdaspur district blocks Dorangal, Gurdaspur and Kahnuwan, Davinder Kumar (Deputy CEO) Rupnagar to verify Gurdaspur district blocks Dera Baba Nanak, Dhariwal and Kalanur, Gurpratap Singh (Deputy CEO) Kapurthala to verify Sri Amritsar Sahib district blocks Verka, Chaugavan and Harsha Chhina, Manmohan Singh (Deputy CEO) Gurdaspur to verify Ferozepur district blocks Guru Harshay, Mamdot and Ferozepur, Navneet Joshi (DDPO- Charge Deputy CEO) Patiala to verify Bathinda district blocks Bhakta Bhaika, Rampura Phool and Bathinda, Harmel Singh (Deputy CEO) Bathinda to verify Sri Muktsar Sahib district blocks Giddarbaha, Malot and Sri Muktsar Sahib.

IEP Chandigarh, November 16:

To reduce road accidents and fatalities besides improving traffic regulation in the state with the help of latest technology, the Punjab Government was holding two day Workshop on ‘Traffic Management and Implementation of the Provisions of Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019’ at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) here.

          Addressing the participants, Secretary Transport Mr. Vikas Garg stressed upon the need of using new technology in traffic management such as speed cameras, interceptors and CCTV system, synching of traffic lights in big cities to reduce the flow of traffic. He said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led state government was making continuous efforts in this direction and ensuring the implementation of the Provisions of Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019.

          Mr. R. Venkat Ratnam, Director General, Lead Agency on Road Safety, Punjab briefed about new provisions of Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 and its implementation especially increased fee/fines and their effects on drivers’ behavior. While emphasizing on the importance of deterrence with the interventions of latest technology, he said that stricter rules definitely reducing road accidents as people apprehend that enforcement of rules is being ensured with the help of technology even in the absence of traffic officials.

          State Transport Commissioner Mr. Vimal Setia spoke on the measures to reduce the road fatalities, ADGP (Traffic) Mr. A.S. Rai explained about the status of Traffic Management in the state and problems, Traffic Advisor Dr. Navdep Asija presented overview of amendments in Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 especially related to road safety and its enforcement and CSCL Chandigarh representative Mr. Ashish Sharma delivered lecture on details of Intelligent Traffic Management and CCTV Challaning System in Chandigarh.          Notably, 110 GOs and NGOs (on the rank of ASIs, Sis and DSPs) from Traffic Police, Punjab, Secretary RTAs and Motor Vehicle Inspectors (MVIs) from Transport Department and Officers from Engineering Department/Agencies such as NHAI, PWD (B&R), Local Government, etc. participated in the workshop, who were given comprehensive details of amendments in the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 and usage of latest traffic management technologies.

IEP CHANDIGARH, November 16

Punjab Police have destroyed over 151Kg heroin and 11 quintals of Poppy Husk, valued at over Rs 800 crore in the international market, by burning them in a furnace in Amritsar on Tuesday.

The process of destruction was completed by the High-Level Drug Disposal Committee of contraband under the chairmanship of IGP Counter Intelligence Rakesh Agrawal. Members of the High-level Drug Disposal committee including AIG SSOC Amritsar Sukhminder Singh Mann, AIG SSOC Fazilka Lakhbir Singh, AIG CI Amritsar Amarjit Singh Bajwa and DSP SSOC Harwinderpal Singh were also present on the occasion.

Official Spokesperson of Punjab Police informed that the case properties of drug cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 at SSOC, Amritsar and Fazilka was destroyed at Khanna Paper Mill Amritsar on Tuesday.

He informed that apart from this, the disposal certificate for opium weighing 40.5 Kg was also issued by Range Level Drug Disposal Committee for depositing the same in Government Opium & Alkaloid Works, Neemuch (M.P.).

IEP Chandigarh, November 15     

     Advancing on the path paved by the freedom fighters and martyrs, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led government has decided to named the government schools after the great martyrs and freedom fighters, informed School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains. He reiterated that more than 80 percent of the Punjabis have sacrificed their lives selflessly in the Indian freedom struggle besides maintaining unity and integrity of the country and guarding the borders.          S. Bains said that on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the India’s independence, the Punjab government has decided to rename the government schools after the name of the martyrs and freedom fighters so that future generations get to know about their sacrifices for the country.          The village panchayat and the school management committee have been asked to pass the resolution for the schools, which are to be named after the martyrs/freedom fighters, and send the same to the state headquarters within next month through school principal along with the biographical notes about the martyrs/freedom fighters and the medals bestowed upon by the government regarding the martyrdom of the freedom fighters and martyrs, said the Cabinet Minister, adding that he will personally monitor the whole process and evaluate after 15 days.

IEP Chandigarh, November 15

 The Punjab Government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is sparing no effort and stands committed to ensure welfare and lifting living standard of every section of society. As part of this, there would be no compromise on the vital issues of timely payment of wages to workers besides eradicating corruption. These views were expressed here today at Forest Complex, Sector 68, Mohali by the Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister Mr. Lal Chand Kataruchak during a meeting with the Janglat Workers Union. The Minister directed the departmental officers to prepare the seniority list strictly keeping in mind the transparency factor apart from assuring that adequate action would be undertaken as soon as possible with regard to the stalled salaries under various schemes. He directed that the salaries must be paid on time in future besides giving assurance of sympathetic consideration and positive action regarding the demand for arrears of minimum wages. As regards the issue of considering those having 5 years experience as skilled, 3 years as semi skilled and less than 3 years as unskilled, the Minister said that the proposal would soon be sent to the Labour Department. Similarly, the matter of exempting workers with over 50 years of age from typing test for promotion would be taken up with the concerned department. Exhorting the union members to step forward for saving the environment, Mr. Kataruchak emphasized proper upkeep of the saplings so as to make Punjab clean and green. It is as part of this that the Phagwara-Chandigarh road would be beautified. He further ordered the officers to promptly initiate the process for implementing the above mentioned decisions.  On the occasion, the union lauded the decision of the State Government to restore Old Pension Scheme. The PCCF Mr. R.K. Mishra and other officers of the department were also present. 

IEP Chandigarh, November 15

Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday handed over appointment letters to two Investigators in the Economic and Statistical organization on compassionate grounds.          Handing over the appointment letters in his office here at Punjab Civil Secretariat, the Finance Minister exhorted the newly inducted employees to work diligently and honestly. Finance Minister also encouraged them to further improve their educational qualification through distance education. He said that it would not only help them in gaining promotions but the department would also benefit from their services with the increase in their competence.          On this occasion, the Finance Minister asked the heads of government departments to prioritise the appointments on the basis of compassionate grounds to ensure that families of deceased employees can get help in their hour of need.