IEP Chandigarh, May 24

 Rolling the wheels for removing illegal encroachments on the government land, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave an ultimatum to the encroachers of government land to vacate the encroachments by May 31 or face the action. In a statement issued here today, the Chief Minister said that the state government is committed for freeing the land from illegal encroachments. He bemoaned that during the tenure of the successive governments in the state, the affluent people had illegally encroached the precious government land by violating the norms, which is unwarranted and undesirable. However, Bhagwant Mann said that from day one after assuming the charge of office, his government had adopted a zero tolerance policy towards illegal encroachments. The Chief Minister said that it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction that the state government has so far freed more than 9000 acres of government land from the illegal encroachers. He said that this momentum will be continued further and every inch of government land under illegal encroachment will be vacated by all means. Bhagwant Mann asked the illegal encroachers to vacate the land under their possession by May 31 else the government will get it freed on its own. The Chief Minister said that a massive anti-encroachment drive by the state government will be started from June 1 to remove these encroachments. He said that no one, however affluent he may be, will be spared during this drive to be started in larger public interest. However, Bhagwant Mann categorically said that people residing on such land, if any, should not worry as they will not be dislocated during the drive.

IEP Chandigarh, May 24

      The Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is committed to the welfare of all sections of the state. To achieve the same objective, the Punjab government has implemented various labour welfare schemes for the social and economic advancement of the construction workers.          On Friday, Minister for Labour, Anmol Gagan Mann, highlighted the Shagun Scheme of the state government. She explained that any construction workers registered  in Punjab are eligible to avail an amount of Rs 51,000 under the Shagun scheme of Punjab Building and other Construction Workers Board (BOCW Board) for their daughters’ marriage. This scheme can be availed by construction worker for the marriage of up to 2 daughters.          Furthermore, Minister Mann explained that if a female construction worker is registered as a beneficiary with the BOCW board, she is also entitled to avail the Shagun amount for her own marriage, provided that her registered parents have not previously claimed the benefit for her marriage.          Minister told that any registered construction worker can apply to avail Sagun scheme within six months after the marriage of his daughter. She said that to validate the marriage, it is necessary to submit the certificate issued by the Marriage Registration Authority alongwith the application form.          She said that Punjab government is committed to empowering construction workers and ensuring their financial well-being.

IEP Chandigarh, May 24

            Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that if any person who have illegally encroached the government panchayat land, vacated the possession by May 31, no legal action will be taken against them.          Addressing a press conference at the local Punjab Bhavan, he said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has already announced that the state government is committed to freeing the land from illegal encroachments and the affluent people who have violated the rules and encroached on expensive government lands will not be spared.          Dhaliwal said that appropriate action will be taken from June 1 against those who will not vacate the lands by May 31. He said that many people have been encroaching on government lands for 30 years and if such people still not vacate the land after the appeal of the Chief Minister, then the state government will take strict legal action against them.          He further said that the state government’s target is to vacate 6000 acres of land by June 10 this year. Dhaliwal said that last year 9030 acres of land was freed from encroachment, the average market value of this land is around Rs. 2709 crore. He said that due to the Jalandhar by-election, the second phase of this campaign has been started 4-5 days ago and 189 acres of land have been vacated by the encroachers themselves.          He also appealed the people to come forward and leave the illegal encroachment of government land so that the revenue collected from this land can be used for the welfare of Punjab. He said that this land is not the ancestral property of anyone but it is the common land of all Punjabis residing in the state and the income generated from this land is to be spent on all the residents of Punjab. Dhaliwal said that last year also on the appeal of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, 3396 acres of land had been vacated by the people themselves.          Dhaliwal categorically said that people residing on such land, if any, will not be dislocated during the drive but such occupiers will be requested to dispose of the matter according to the law. He also requested that for the welfare of Punjab and to make the state Rangla Punjab, the illegal encroachers themselves should come forward and hand over these lands to the Punjab government. 

IEP Chandigarh, May 24

     The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making adequate arrangements to ensure smooth sowing of paddy across the state during the upcoming monsoon season.          Punjab Power Minister Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO on Friday visited PSPCL Office of Gurdaspur to review the preparations for power supply for the upcoming season. During the visit, he instructed to the concerned officials to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the concerned area. He asked the officials to enhance field visits and make necessary inspections of transformers, lines and others to fix all the defects well before time.          The Cabinet Minister said that the state government has divided into Punjab into four zones to effectively implement the phase wise supply for paddy. He said that the sowing of paddy across the state will start in four different phases from June 10 to June 21 etc. He ensured that all the arrangements will be made for uninterrupted power supply to the farmers.          Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO said that the sowing of paddy in border areas will start from June 10, for which uninterrupted power supply will be provided. He said that second phase to be commenced from June 16 in which seven districts of Ferozepur, Faridkot, Pathankot, Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar and Tarn Taran have been covered, while in third phase seven districts Rupnagar, SAS Nagar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Fazilka, Bathinda and Amritsar will be ensured supply from June 19. He informed that the remaining nine districts of Patiala, Jalandhar, Moga, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Barnala and Mansa will be covered from June 21. 

IEP CHANDIGARH, May 24

       As part of ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the vision of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police on Friday conducted simultaneous raids at premises of anti-social elements and persons involved in crimes. The raids were carried out on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.          Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla said that the day-long operation was conducted across the state in a synchronised manner and all the CPs/SSPs were asked to depute at least one police party per police station, under Sub-Inspector (SI) rank officers to check the whereabouts of these persons.          He said that as many as 450 Police parties, involving over 3000 police personnel, have conducted raids at premises of at least 4171 persons, who have a criminal record.          The Special DGP said that the purpose to carry out this operation was to know the whereabouts of such persons, besides, ensuring that they have returned to the mainstream lifestyle.           He said that the Police teams have also questioned family members of persons involved in crimes and checked bank transactions from abroad, and western union and property details. Police teams have also checked the vehicles stationed at their premises and verified their registration numbers using VAHAN mobile app, he added.          Meanwhile, such exercises help the Police to keep vigil around the anti-social elements, while instilling sense of security among common people.

IEP Chandigarh, May 23    

   With an aim of teaching the children of the state as per the need of hour, a one-day tour program was organised for the ninth grade students of the Schools of Eminence to introduce them educational institutions. The ambitious project of Schools of Eminence was launched by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government.          Divulging about the tour program, Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that students of 94 Schools of Eminence have visited to reputed educational institutes include Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjabi University, IIT Rupnagar, NIT Jalandhar, Punjab Technical University, NIS, NIPER and Chandigarh College of Engineering under the Study Tour program.           Mr. Bains said that these students will be sent to visit prominent industrial units like Verka Milk Plant, Trident, Hero Cycle, Viatone Energy Private Limited, Pepsi Plant, Swaraj Mazda, Mel Goindwal Sahib on a one-day study tour on May 26.           Mr. Bains said that the purpose of these visits to stir the students mind to study in higher education institutions and to introduce them to the idea of becoming an entrepreneur or doing something new through a visit to the industrial units.           He said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is committed to provide the best education to the students of the state and is continuously working in this direction. 

IEP Chandigarh, May 24

          Lauding the efforts of all the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for playing pivotal role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Friday said that the Punjab state has successfully achieved 98% coverage for the first dose of Covid vaccination, while, 86% for the 2nd dose for 18+ population. The data is per the data available on CoWIN Portal till May 12, 2023.

          The Health Minister was presiding over the meeting collaboratively organised by the USAID and Punjab Health Department to share the experiences and the learnings during Covid pandemic, particularly in the field of COVID-19 vaccination. He was Chief Guest on the meet, which was organised to recognise the efforts of all the stakeholders with whose contributions Punjab was able to fight Covid in a successful manner.

          Multi-stakeholder partnerships and strong community engagement was the force behind enhancing COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Momentum Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity project, funded by USAID, in partnership with the State Health department, had worked towards increasing the demand and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, for the vulnerable and marginalised population of the state including the migratory population and transgender community.

          Dr Balbir Singh acknowledged the invaluable contribution of the project and its local partners— Society for All Round Development-SARD India, MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child, Transport Corporation of India-TCI, and HelpAge India, in achieving the COVID-19 vaccination targets efficiently during the meet. He also praised commendable support by the religious institutions of Punjab, especially ‘Sri Akal Takht Sahib’ and ‘Deras’ through mass appeal which resulted in considerable increase in the number of vaccinations.

          He exhorted everyone to follow a healthy lifestyle to prevent diseases. He also underlined the role of Ayurveda and Homeopathy in treatment of chronic diseases. “Soon, the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government would introduce regular Yoga and lifestyle modification sessions in all the health wellness centres,” he said.

          Health Minister also released a coffee table book depicting the project’s journey in Punjab along with books for children developed jointly by SARD and the National Book Trust (NBT).

          During the event, the NGOs acknowledged the support received from the Health Department of Punjab for their proactive support in ensuring vaccine supply to meet the necessary targets. The NGOs used this opportunity to showcase the success stories and innovative approaches applied during the implementation of the project.

          Dr. Gopal K. Soni, Project Director, Momentum Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity project highlighted that the NGO partners of Punjab used unique strategies of project implementation by engaging Faith-based organisations and visiting non-conventional places of gatherings including Grain Markets, Deras, Industrial Sites, etc. to target the most vulnerable and marginalised communities to intensify the vaccine uptake.

          To build confidence in vaccines and ensuring the COVID-19 vaccination is accessible to all, the teams conducted special vaccination camps for persons with disability, children, the elderly population, the transgender community, etc. which are great learnings from the project and could be replicated to strengthen other immunisation programs of the country, he said. “The project is thankful to the State Government, Health Department and other departments for supporting this initiative,” he said.

          Director Health and Family Welfare Punjab Dr Adarshpal Kaur acknowledged the assistance provided by the NGOs to connect with marginalised and vulnerable society and supported government efforts to extend the reach of routine immunisation drives.

          Senior health department representatives,Director Health Services ( Family Welfare) Dr. Ravindra Pal Kaur,  Director NHM Dr. S.P. Singh, State Immunization Officer Dr. Balwinder Kaur, State Nodal Officer (Covid) Dr. Rajesh Bhaskar, Joh Snow India Punjab State Team, District Health authorities and community stakeholders were also present at the occasion.