IEP Amritsar, March 15    

       Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday envisioned that the G-20 summit will prove to be a healthy platform for seeking vital inputs of expert nations to boost the education sector across the globe in general and state in particular thereby immensely benefiting the youth.           The Chief Minister, while addressing the gathering during second meeting of Education Working group of G-20 here today, said that he ardently believes that the deliberations in this summit will not only uplift the standard of education but will also benefit the youth of the state immensely. He expressed hope that the strenuous efforts of the G-20 in addressing major issues related to the global economy will give a major fillip to the economic growth of the country in general and that of the state in particular. Bhagwant Mann also lauded the concerted efforts being made by G-20 for promoting an environment of peace, understanding and international cooperation.           Highlighting the landmark initiatives taken by the state government in field of education to share that in consonance with the ideology of Baba Sahib Dr BR Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian constitution, who once said that ‘Knowledge is the basis of human life’, state government is according top priority to the education sector. He said that the state government believes that ‘Health’ and ‘Education’ form bedrock for human and social development and stands committed to strengthen and expand these two critical sectors. Bhagwant Mann said that the state government has proposed an outlay of Rs 17,072 crore for school and Higher education in the coming fiscal year.           The Chief Minister said that budget of Rs 200 crore has been kept for up-gradation of the schools into the school of eminence. He said that these world class 117 schools of eminence will ensure holistic development of the students. Bhagwant Mann said that these schools will cater to the students of classes IX to XII and are being built on five pillars of support and strength i.e. Infrastructure, Academics, Human Resource Management, Sports & Co-curricular Activities and Community Engagement.           The Chief Minister said that apart from this, these schools will create opportunities to nurture individual ability and skills valuable for higher education, employment, training and others. He said that these schools will focus on grooming students for five professional and competitive courses including engineering, law, commerce, UPSC and NDA. Bhagwant Mann said that the state government remains committed to uplift Education in the State.            The Chief Minister said that in order to ensure that the environment of schools is conducive to improved levels of education for the students of Government schools, a budget of Rs.141.14 crore has been approved. He said that it will ensure that the work of cleanliness, protection of properties and management in the school is carried out effectively by Campus Managers allowing Principals of schools to focus on their administrative and academic duties. Bhagwant Mann said that an International Education Affairs Cell (IEAC) has been established to provide world class training to teachers, school heads and educational administrators working at different levels in the School Education Department.            Underscoring the need for knowledge sharing, the Chief Minister said that it can act as a catalyst for the overall development of the students. He said that his government is already focusing on enhancing the knowledge sharing agreement between the students from state and other countries. Bhagwant Mann said that it is the need of hour to ensure that the students become partners of the socio economic growth of the world.           The Chief Minister said that the state government has sent batches of trainees consisting of 66 Principals/Education officers have been sent to Principals Academy, Singapore for upscaling their expertise. He said that on their return these teachers will share the foreign practices with students and their colleagues thereby ensuring that students get acquainted with the pattern of study on foreign shores so that they are able to compete with their peers educated abroad. Bhagwant Mann said that this is a revolutionary step which will rejuvenate the entire education system of the state for the well being of students by bringing the much needed qualitative change in the education system of the state.            The Chief Minister said that sole criteria to choose these teachers for training are merit so as to ensure that they play a vanguard role in education reform. He said that the single aim of all these efforts is to reverse the trend of brain drain by making youth an active partner of socio- economic growth of the state adding that this path breaking initiative will prove to be a milestone for reforming the education system in the state. Bhagwant Mann said that in another landmark initiative the state government has set up, the “Punjab Sikhya-te-Sehat Fund” that will act as a catalyst to transform education and health sectors by active participation of NRI brethren.             The Chief Minister said that this summit will go a long way in sensitizing the governments by highlighting the issues and problems concerning the populace across the globe. He also said that the Government of India really deserves an accolade for holding this mega event on this land of great Gurus, saints and seers. Bhagwant Mann said that it is his proud privilege and honour to be here to welcome galaxy of eminent personalities representing their respective countries.           The Chief Minister profusely thanked the Government of India (GOI) for choosing this holy city to organize two sessions on Education and Labour. He said that his is a sacred city, which is deeply revered by one and all in the annals of history, where devotees from all over the world pay homage to seek peace and solace. Bhagwant Mann recalled that this holy city was once the prominent center of trade and commercial activity in the country in pre-partition days adding that the state government is making strenuous efforts to again develop Amritsar as the trade hub as several national and international companies of excellence and repute have evinced keen interest to set up their ventures in the holy city.           The Chief Minister also said that since time immemorial Punjab has been a cradle of civilization and culture adding that the hardworking and brave Punjabis had closely witnessed numerous pages of history unfolding on this sacred land of five years. He said that the state of Punjab has a successful growth story for ushering in the green revolution in mid 1960s followed by rapid industrialization in terms of Hosiery, Hand tools, Sports, Auto-parts, Agriculture implements, Rubber and others. Bhagwant Mann also said that besides being the nation’s food bowl, Punjab also has a distinction of being the sword arm of the country and its people are well known all over the world for their courage, resilience and spirit of enterprise.           The Chief Minister expressed hope that the delegates will have a comfortable stay in the city during the summit and they will enjoy the warm hospitality of the state. He said that during their stay the delegates will take along with them the vivid memories of their visit to Punjab.  Bhagwant Mann also wished successful accomplishment of the summit to the participating delegates. 

IEP Chandigarh, March 15      

    The State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has fulfilled most of the promises made to the people within the first one year. During the period of one year, the honest intentions of the Chief Minister to work for the welfare of all the sections of the society, led to progress on every front.          It was stated by Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer during an interview on a private channel on the completion of one year of the State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.          Talking about the one year performance of his departments, the Mining Minister said that it was decided to give affordable sand to the public at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet from public sites and so far people have bought 3.71 lakh metric tonnes of sand from these sites. The labourers are earning one to one and half lakh daily from this pro people initiative. The goal of the government is to take the number of public sites to 150. The government’s aim is to end mining and provide sand to the people at reasonable prices. The notification of the new policy has also been issued.          Speaking about the Environment Department, Meet Hayer said that 30 percent less stubble burning cases have come up in Punjab compared to last year. If the central government had given financial support, the incidents of stubble burning would have been reduced by 70 percent this time. Due to in situ and ex situ management, this year cases of stubble burning will see further decline.          Talking about the Sports Department, Sports Minister Meet Hayer said that the department is working continuously to make Punjab the number one state of the country again. “Khedan Watan Punjab Deya” got a great response. A new sports policy is being framed with the opinion of experts. A scholarship scheme has been started in the name of the great hockey Olympian Balbir Singh Senior. Special attention has been given to prepare the players for international competitions, added Meet Hayer.

IEP CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, March 15

Keeping in view of the ongoing G-20 Summit, the Amritsar Commissionerate Police on Wednesday have banned flying drones and unmanned aerial vehicles in the entire Commissionerate area from March 14 to March 21, 2023. The ban also includes the venues of G-20 Education Working Group meetings, the places where the delegates are staying and the routes.Notably, Punjab is hosting the second Education Working Group (Ed WG) from March 15-17 and 28 G-20 member countries, guest countries and invited organisations (OECD, UNESCO, and UNICEF) will be participating in the 3-day event consisting of seminar/exhibition and working group meetings. The L20 meeting on labour is scheduled to be held on March 19-20.Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Naunihal Singh said that the venues of meetings, the places of stay and routes have been declared red zones and flying of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles have been prohibited to beef up the security and to prevent any untoward incident from Airborne entities. 

IEP Chandigarh, March 15     

      A year after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government came into the power, the Law and Order situation in the border state has witnessed a considerable improvement as majority of criminals and gangsters have been put behind the bar, while, many of them chose to leave the state amidst the strict vigil kept by Punjab Police on the movement of anti-social elements.          In last few months, Punjab Police under the supervision of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav has conducted many special operations, and in majority of operations the latter himself hit the ground running to lead the entire Police Force to conduct these operations, which were aimed to instil sense of security among the general public and increase presence of the cops to infuse fear among the anti-social elements. The operations including Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs), raids at hideouts of dreaded gangsters, special vehicle checking operations, Operation Seal, night domination operations, etc were conducted.           The official data from March 16, 2022 to March 15, 2023 reveals that the Punjab Police have busted 26 terror modules with the arrest of 168 terrorist/radicals after recovering 31 Rifles, 201 Revolvers/Pistols, 9 Tiffin Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs), 8.72Kg RDX and other explosives, 11 Hand Grenades, two Sleeves of disposed Rocket Launcher, 30 Drones, and one loaded Rocket Propelled Grenade.          Similarly, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), since its formation on April 6, 2022, has succeeded in busting 162 gangster/criminal modules after arresting 582 gangsters/criminals and neutralising five, after recovering 586 weapons, 131 vehicles used in criminal activities. Pertinently, immediately after coming to power, the CM Bhagwant Mann-led state government formed a special Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) headed by ADGP Promod Ban to wipe out gangsters from the state.           DGP Gaurav Yadav said that there were six major heinous crime incidents including an RPG attack at Intelligence Headquarters building at Mohali; Murder of Punjabi Singer Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala; Killing of Bargari sacrilege accused Pardeep Kumar; RPG attack at PS Sarhali, Tarn Taran; Killings of Sudhir Suri and Bhupinder Singh Chawla alias Timmy Chawla, that took place since April 2022, and the Punjab Police have managed to effectively solve all these cases in a record time.          To make Punjab a drug-free state, the DGP said that the Punjab Police had waged a decisive war against drugs which resulted in the arrest of as many as 17568 drug smugglers after registering 13094 FIRs since March 16, 2022 against them. “Punjab Police have effectively recovered a record 863.9Kg heroin in just one year,” he said.          Pertinently, Punjab Police have recovered 716.9 Kg Heroin from across the state and additionally, 147.5-Kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from Seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 863.9 Kgs. Apart from this, Police have also recovered 888-Kg opium, 1229-Kg Ganja, 464 quintals of poppy husk, and 70.16 lakhs tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids from across the state. The Police have also recovered Rs 10.36 crores of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in the past one year.          He said that under the ongoing special drive to arrest Proclaimed Offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases, Punjab Police have arrested 828 POs/Absconders since March 16, 2022.          DGP Gaurav Yadav reiterated that the Punjab Police is committed to root out the drug menace from the border state and several special anti-drug drives are being launched time-to-time to keep check on drug peddlers.          Meanwhile, after coming to power, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also increased the ex-gratia amount to Rs 1 crore to be given to the families of Police Personnel in case of death in the line of duty. This amount is in addition to the insurance cover worth Rs 1 crore being given by the HDFC bank. The Punjab Government has also enhanced the budget allocation for Police Welfare from Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore.BOXES:1. ACTION AGAINST TERRORISTSTerror Modules Busted: 26Terrorists/Radicals Arrested: 168Total Rifles recovered: 31Total Revolvers/Pistols recovered: 201Total Tiffin IEDs recovered: 9RDX and other explosives recovery: 8.72KgTotal Hand Grenades recovered: 11Drones recovered: 302. ACTION AGAINST GANGSTERSTotal Modules Busted: 162Gangsters/Criminals Arrested: 582Gangsters/Criminals Neutralised: 5Weapons Recovered: 586Vehicles Recovered: 1313. ACTION AGAINST DRUGSTotal Drug smugglers/Suppliers Arrested: 17568Total FIRs Registered: 13094Total Heroin Recovered: 863.9KgTotal Opium Recovered: 888KgTotal Ganja Recovered: 1229KgTotal Poppy Husk Recovered: 464 QuintalsTotal tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids Recovered: 70.16 lakhTotal Drug Money Recovered: Rs 10.36 croresTotal Arrest of Proclaimed Offenders/Absconders in NDPS cases: 828

IEP Chandigarh, March 13

In a major administrative reshuffle, the Punjab government on Monday transferred 16 IAS and 3 PCS officers. Anurag Agarwal, IAS, who is currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner, Cooperation and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Elections, has now been posted as Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner, Cooperation and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Elections, and in addition Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education and Research in place of Alaknanda Dayal, IAS. 

Also, Raji P. Shrivastava, IAS, currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner, Forest and Wildlife Preservation has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Freedom Fighters, in place of Veerendra Kumar Meena, IAS.

Vivek Pratap Singh, Principal Secretary, Local Government has been posted as  Principal Secretary, Local Government and in addition, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare relieving Veerendra Kumar Meena, IAS of additional charge.

Rahul Bhandari, Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and in addition Principal Secretary, Civil Aviation and in addition Principal Secretary, Information and Public Relations and in addition Principal Secretary Resident Commissioner, Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi has been posted as Principal Secretary Resident Commissioner, Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi.

Veerendra Kumar Meena, Principal Secretary, Freedom fighters and in addition Principal Secretary Printing and Stationary and in addition Principal Secretary, Health and Family welfare has been posted as  Principal Secretary Printing and Stationary.

Vikas Garg, Principal Secretary, Transport has been posted as Principal Secretary, Transport and in addition Financial Commissioner, Forests, Wildlife Preservation in place of Raji P Srivastava.

Sumer Singh Gurjar, Principal Secretary, Social Security, Women and Child Development and in addition Commissioner, Rupnagar Division, Rupnagar has been posted as Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare and in addition Principal Secretary, Horticulture and in addition Principal Secretary Soil and Water Conservation in place of Rahul Tiwari.

Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Secretary, Tourism and Culture affairs and in addition Secretary Mines and Geology has been posted as Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs in place of Rahul Bhandari and in addition Tourism and Culture affairs, and in addition Secretary Mines and Geology.

Arshdeep Singh Thind, Secretary, Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare has been posted as Secretary, Agriculture and Farmer’s welfare and in addition Secretary Horticulture.

Ritu Aggarwal, Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice has been posted as Secretary Cooperative.

Malwainder Singh Jaggi, Chief Executive officer, Punjab water Supply and Sewerage Board has been posted as Secretary, Information and Public Relations and in addition Civil Aviation relieving Rahul Bhandari and in addition water Supply and Sewerage Board.

Other officers include IAS Abhinav, IAS Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, IAS Babita Singh, IAS Devinder Singh, IAS Puneet Singh, PCS Rajesh Kumar Sharma, PCS Vikas Hira, PCS Amardeep Singh Thind were transferred by the government. 

IEP Chandigarh, March 13

Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Monday ordered an inquiry pertaining to irregularities during Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test (PSTET).

Mr, Bains said that the matter was come to his notice that grave irregularities have been found during the Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test held on Sunday. He issued an order to conduct time bound inquiry by Principal Secretary Level Officer and asked that a criminal case should be registered against the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

Apart from this, the Cabinet Minister also instructed the Guru Nanak Dev University to conduct the paper agains as soon as possible without charging any fee. He directed the officials of the School Education Department to incorporate a clause in the contract with the third party regarding conducting examinations on behalf of the department that if any irregularities will be found then the executing agency or organisation will pay the suitable compensation to the students.

IEP Chandigarh, March 13

          Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Mr Aman Arora on Monday met the successful bidders of recently concluded e-auction of GMADA, in which the authority has earned the highest ever revenue of a whopping ₹1935.88 Crores in a single e-auction.

          Addressing the function organised at Mohali Club, SAS Nagar, Mr. Aman Arora directed the GMADA officials to designate Single Point Contact Official to facilitate these investors in getting all required permissions and also provide them a required Documents Checklist for various categories of properties so that they won’t have to face any hardship in setting up their establishments.

          Expressing gratitude towards the investors for showing faith in the Housing & Urban Development Department and giving thumping response to the e-auction, Mr. Aman Arora assured that GMADA would provide every possible help at every step.

          He said that investors from around the world are coming to Punjab to set up their ventures due to investors-centric policies implemented by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government in the state.

          All the bidders thanked the H&UD Minster Mr Aman Arora and Principal Secretary Mr Ajoy Kumar Sinha for organising this event to interact with them.

          Chief Administrator PUDA Ms Apneet Riyait and Chief Administrator GMADA Mr Amandeep Bansal were also present.

IEP Chandigarh, March 13  

        The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making all possible efforts to provide basic facilities, clean and pollution free environment to the people of the state.          Taking another step in this direction, Local Government Minister Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar said that the Punjab government has decided to spend about 6.90 crore on development works for the beautification of Amritsar city.          Disclosing this, Cabinet Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar said that about Rs 3.91 crores are being spent to provide and set up CNG based crematorium as well as to develop the crematorium in all aspects.          He further said that apart from this, a decision has been taken to spend 48.50 lakh rupees for the re-conditioning and development of various streets of Guru Amardas Avenue Ward No. 3 under Phase-2.          Cabinet Minister, Dr. Nijjar said that about Rs 1.51 crore will be spent for the redevelopment and beautification of 15 parks in Ward 6 of Pandura Sultanwind, South Constituency of Amritsar city.          He said that apart from this, other development works worth more than Rs.1.00 crore will be done.          Local Government Minister, Dr. Nijjar said that department has already started the process for these works. Tenders for these works have already been uploaded by the Local Government Department on the Punjab Government website www.eproc.punjab.gov.in.  If there is a need to make any kind of amendment in these tenders the same information would be made available on this website, he also added.          He said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is committed to provide corruption free administration to the people of the state. Therefore, any official or employee caught committing corruption would not be spared.          Cabinet Minister, Dr. Nijjar directed the officials to ensure quality and transparency in the work of the department. 

IEP Chandigarh, March 13

          Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Monday assured all non-resident Punjabis (NRP) that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is committed to redress their grievances at the earliest.

          During his visit to control room set up here for NRPs to register their grievances, Dhaliwal said that Punjabi diaspora can register their complaints and grievances on WhatsApp number 93093-88088 without any hesitation. He said that registered complaint would be forwarded to the concerned department or officer for follow-up and timely redressal. J. Balamurgan, Principal Secretary, NRI affairs department and Praveen Kumar Sinha ADGP, NRI Affairs, were also present on this occasion.

          Meanwhile, Dhaliwal call a number of complainants who had either registered their greivances during NRI Sammelan or registered these with the control room. The complainants thanked the NRI Affairs Minister for showing personal interest in resolving their issues besides applauding Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government for taking such pro-people initiatives.

          On this occasion, the Minister directed the officers concerned to resolve all issues and complaints, except sub judice matter in a time bound manner. He said that he would soon call a state level meeting with all the Deputy Commissioners regarding the settlement of the grievances/complaints of the Punjabi Diaspora.

          Dhaliwal also appealed the overseas Punjabis to invest in Punjab while adding that Punjabis who have achieved success in foreign countries should also contribute for the progress of their state. The Punjab government will help them in every way, he said.

IEP Chandigarh, March 12

The Punjab government has decided to extend  the time period of a policy by 5 years under which riot victims and terror attack victims in the state get 5% reservation in allotment of plots or houses without any financial concession, Revenue Minister Brahm Shanker Jimpa said.He said that the Punjab Government under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to extend the facility of 5 per cent reservation in allotment of plots/houses by Urban Estates/Improvement Trust/Pepsu Township Development Board, without any financial concession for five more years.He said that this facility of reservation was abolished on December 31, 2021, but with the decision taken now, this facility has been extended till December 31, 2026.The Revenue Minister said that a letter regarding this pro-people decision of the Punjab Government has been issued to all the Deputy Commissioners, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Local Government Department.