IEP Chandigarh, November 9

Elaborating on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government’s achievement and future plan to eradicate TB by 2025, Health and Family Welfare Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra on Wednesday said that eight districts of Punjab has already received bronze category certification and the department has set an aim to get five more districts in silver category and three more in bronze category in the coming year.

          Revealing this, the Health Minister said that for the year 2022-23 department has set a target to identify and treat 70,000 patients. He said that Punjab Health and Family Welfare department has organised a two day workshop at the MGSIPA Chandigarh with an aim to eradicate TB by bringing down the new incidence of TB cases by more than 80%. He said that this workshop has been organized as a part of the nationwide efforts by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to find, test and treat more and more TB cases by actively collaborating with partners, private sector, patients and communities to measure progress and identify gaps for course correction.

          Mr. Jauramajra further said that the department has recently conducted a state level meeting of about 40 business houses of the state and appealed to them to enroll themselves as Ni-kshay Mitras. He instructed the DTOs to get in touch with them and take this to the next level. He reiterated that the target of TB elimination may seem huge and difficult but with collective efforts it would be achieved.

          Giving details regarding workshop, Mission Director National Health Mission Abhinav Trikha said that this workshop was attended by state and district health officials, faculty members cum nodal officers from IAPSM. He said that during this workshop the officials were instructed to work in tandem to achieve the desired target of TB elimination within the set timeframe and appreciation certificates have been awarded to the health officials and workers of the eight districts namely Fatehgarh Sahib, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Ferozepur,Moga, Roopnagar and Tarn Taran for their efforts which resulted in reduction in incidence of new TB cases.  He said that the department has received feedback from the participants for successful implementation of the NTEP besides assuring the District TB Officers to resolve their issues.

          Divulging details regarding the NTEP, Director Health and Family Welfare Dr. Ranjit Singh Ghotra stated that this programme provides free diagnostic services and free treatment to all notified TB patients in public system as well as private sector. He said that the Programme also provides monthly 500 rupees to all patients for nutritional support under Nikshay Poshan Yojana through DBT.

IEP Chandigarh, November 9

Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that the Punjab government would strengthen the cyber security initiatives to safeguard common people from online frauds with the help of latest cyber security measures.

          During a meeting with young entrepreneur Trishneet Arora, founder and CEO of TAC Security, who called him at his official residence here, the Finance Minister said that the Punjab government has been working to create a dynamic check against the cyber frauds. He said that apart from this, the Punjab government has been using modern cyber security measures for online payment of its various services.

          Trishneet Arora while appreciating the cyber security measures being used by the Punjab government said that the government’s seriousness towards cyber security is the need of the hour. He shared his experiences in this direction and suggested several tools and measures. He said that strengthening the cyber security system would also benefit in maintaining the law and order situation in the state.

          Cheema took note of Arora’s suggestions on cyber security and asked him to keep in touch for further discussions on this issue. The Finance Minister asked him to contribute his best for the welfare of the state while adding that young entrepreneurs like him were encouragement to the youth of the country.

IEP SAS Nagar,  November 9

On the occasion of Legal Services Day, a Legal Aid Clinic was inaugurated at Amity University, SAS Nagar by Sh. Harpal Singh, District & Sessions Judge, SAS Nagar and Sh. Arun Gupta, Member Secretary, Punjab State Legal Services Authority. Legal Services Day was celebrated by Punjab State Legal Services Authority and District Legal Services Authority, SAS Nagar by organizing a Mega Legal Services Camp at Amity University, Mohali as per NALSA module. In the Legal Services Camp, stalls of District Legal Services Authority, Food & Civil Supplies, Development of Women and Children Department, Cooperative Bank, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, Rural Department, Health and Family Department, Employment Department, Municipal Corporation, Mohali, BDPO office and Punjab National Bank were installed for making the people aware about the services and for processing their applications. During camp, 129 applications were received whereas 1236 applications had already been received during the door to door campaign launched by District Legal Services Authority, SAS Nagar. All the applications are being processed and 53 applications have already been allowed and benefits have been delivered to the applicants.
Sh. Arun Gupta, District & Sessions Judge-cum-Member Secretary, Punjab State Legal Services Authority while addressing the gathering impressed the people to seek benefits of free legal services being provided by the Legal Services Authorities. He also made the people aware about the Victim Compensation Schemes of State and National Legal Services Authority, New Delhi.
Sh. Amit Talwar, Deputy Commissioner, SAS Nagar appealed the students to spread awareness among the masses regarding welfare schemes of the Government and to assist them in availing benefits under such Schemes.
Sh. Baljinder Singh Maan, Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, SAS Nagar disclosed that each and every village of the District shall be visited by the Teams of Panel Lawyers and Para Legal Volunteers under campaign Empowerment of Citizens through Legal Awareness and Outreach launched by NALSA, New Delhi from 31.10.2022 to 13.11.2022.
Sh. Vivek Sheel Soni, IPS, SSP, SAS Nagar, Ms. Samriti Dhir, Additional Member Secretary, Punjab State Legal Services Authority, Ms. Amninder Kaur Brar, Additional Deputy Commissioner and Sh. Inderpal Singh, Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) were also present at the programme. Prof. R.K. Kohli, Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Mohali extended vote of thanks to the participants.

IEP Chandigarh, November 8

Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government has established a new Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) in the State GST Commissionerate to monitor GSTN platform for better analysis of the digital data available over it.

Revealing this here, the Finance Minister said that the state government has decided to establish TIU as all services and returns of registered taxpayers are available on GSTN platform in digital mode and it is creating a lot of data. He said that this Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) will work directly under the control of the Taxation Commissioner, and Additional Commissioner (Enforcement) and Director (Investigation) will control it for day-to-day functioning.

“One Assistant Commissioner State Taxes, Three State Taxation Officers, and Six Taxation Inspectors will work full time in TIU”, said Cheema while adding that special Data Analysts, Legal experts, Cyber experts, and System managers were being recruited to make TIU professionally competent.

Cheema further said that a state-level facility with all new technologies and data analysis mechanisms would be set up at the Taxation Office, Patiala. “It will be equipped with the latest hardware, software, and artificial intelligence tools for analysis of data being generated by GST Portal, E-way bill portal, and Toll data of NHAI. The major emphasis will be on identifying and taking strictest action on habitual tax evaders, persons involved in fake billing business, accumulation of bogus Input Tax Credit, etc.”, said Cheema.

Disclosing the future plans and actions to improve the state revenues, Cheema said that the state government has been working on the department’s proposal to convert all Mobile Wings of State GST into State Prevention & Intelligence Units (SIPU). “These SIPUs will be having 9 different field units in various parts of the state and on Central Unit at Taxation Office, Patiala”, said Cheema while adding that these Units would especially work in coordination with TIU to undertake precise action by way of inspections, searches & seizures against big tax evaders.

The Finance Minister said that the Punjab Government had also decided to use the services of GST Prime, the latest data analysis tool created by NIC. He said that GST Prime would help in the creation of specific data analysis reports on various parameters, and the strictest action would be initiated as per these reports. He said that the Department has also undertaken a lot of activities to guide and facilitate genuine taxpayers so that they can do their business in a better way.

Reiterating Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led the Punjab Government’s commitment to improving the fiscal health of the state, Cheema said that the state government has received more than Rs. 250 crores through enforcement actions by way of inspections & checking of vehicles; using data mining for recovery of pending dues from tax evaders and conducting an audit of selected high-volume taxpayers, whereas, during the regime of the previous government the department had received only 600 crores in last two years. He said that it was very unfortunate that the previous government did not pay any attention to improving state finances and remained dependent only on the GST compensation being provided by the Centre Government.

IEP Chandigarh/Ludhiana, November 8

Continuing with mission of beautifying Ludhiana, Punjab Local Bodies Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar on Tuesday inaugurated vertical garden project with covering 31 columns with vertical gardens under flyover in BRS Nagar along with Sidhwan Canal stretch.

He was also accompanied by MLAs Gurpreet Bassi Gogi, Madan Lal Bagga, Ashok Parashar Pappi, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, MC Commissioner Dr Shena Aggarwal, besides several others.

Giving more information about project, Dr Nijjar said that the project would cost Rs 2.17 crore and would be over by January 31, 2023. He said that 260 plants of different varieties would be strung on bio-panels under flyover besides a dedicated drip irrigation facility will be set up for watering the plants daily.

The Minister said that the company to which tenders had been alloted, will also maintain the vertical gardens for next there years. He said that these vertical gardens will add more beauty to this area besides making Ludhiana more greener and cleaner.

Dr Nijjar pointed out that the concept of vertical gardens on flyover pillars had been taken from Delhi and Jammu cities where such projects have remained successful and received overwhelming response from the people.

The Minister expressed hope that these green walls will also minimize the pollution levels in the city which is known as Industrial hub of India. He said that Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was committed to make Rangla Punjab with overall development of cities and rural areas of the state.

IEP Chandigarh/Ludhiana, November 8

Punjab Local Bodies Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar on Tuesday inaugurated the project of legacy waste bioremediation plant at Tajpur Road dump site which will clear five lakh tonnes of legacy waste under its first phase in next 22-months.

The project will cost Rs 27.17 crore and is being executed under Ludhiana Smart City Mission. The total area of landfill site is 51.36 acres which is situated around 15 km from the city. The total accumulated legacy waste at the site is approximately 25 lakh MT.

He was also accompanied by MLAs Daljit Singh Grewal, Madan Lal Bagga, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, MC Commissioner Dr Shena Aggarwal, DC Surabhi Malik, AAP District President (Urban) Sharnpal Singh Makkar, AAP District President (Rural) Harbhupinder Singh Dharaur, besides several others.

Addressing the residents, the Cabinet Minister said that the process of disposing of legacy waste accumulated at the dumpsite would be carried out through a bioremediation process in two phases. He said that work of the first phase had been awarded to Sagar Motors which will clear 1440 tons per day of waste in its plant by using Zero Landfill technology. He said that the contractor had also agreed to deploy extra machinery and complete the work well before the deadline. 

Dr Nijjar pointed out that the tenders for phase-II are already floated to dispose of the remaining 19.62 lakh tonnes of legacy waste here. He said that the project would give a major relief to the residents from the foul smell emanating from the garbage dump site. He said that Solid waste management was one of the biggest challenges for cities and the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been making sincere efforts to make Punjab clean and green by scientifically disposing of garbage and solid waste.

IEP Chandigarh, November 8:

Punjab Information and Public Relations Minister Mr Aman Arora on Tuesday has expressed deep grief over the tragic and untimely death of Arsh Sharma (25), the younger son of Mr. Devinder Pal, Senior Staff Reporter of Punjabi Tribune. He died in a road accident near Phagwara in wee hours today.  Expressing his heartfelt sympathies with bereaved family, relatives and friends in this hour of grief, Mr. Aman Arora prayed to the Almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed soul and fortitude to the family to bear this irreparable loss.Meanwhile, Principal Secretary Information and Public Relations Mr. Rahul Bhandari and Director Sonali Giri also expressed deep sorrow over the tragic demise of Arsh Sharma.

IEP Chandigarh, November 7

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Jai krishan Singh Rauri has written a letter to Punjab Government to declare ‘Chhinjh Chharahan Di’ as a heritage fair.

In this letter, S. Rauri said that from the first Sunday of the month of Maghara every year, this Chhinjh fair is held for four consecutive days at the village of Achalpur Majari, a semi-mountainous area under Garshankar of Hoshiarpur district. He said that this historic fair needs to be preserved as a sign of heritage.

S. Rauri further wrote that the Punjab government is constantly striving hard for preserving the rich heritage of Punjab for the next generation. The people of the this region have been demanding to declare the historical fair ‘Chhinjh Chharahan Di’ as a heritage fair for a long time. In the book of eighth class, published by the Punjab School Education Board, the article ‘Chhinjh Chharahan Di’ written by the renowned writer Amrik Singh Dayal is being taught in schools from the last ten years.

He said that since the region was backward and hilly, this fair could not be promoted and neither the previous governments paid any attention to this.