IEP CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, January 4

          In a big blow to trans-border narcotic smuggling networks amidst the ongoing war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police have busted a cross-border drug and arms smuggling racket being operated by Pakistan-based smugglers with the arrest of a key person after recovering 2 Kg Ice Drug (Methamphetamine), said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

          The arrested smuggler has been identified as Simranjit Singh alias Simar Maan, a resident of Village Gaggarmal in Amritsar. Apart from seizing a consignment of Ice Drugs, Police teams have also recovered a highly sophisticated .30-bore Chinese Pistol along with five live cartridges from his possession.

          DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused was directly in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers Pathan and Amer, who were supplying him with Ice drugs and weapons from across the border using a drone.

          The arrested accused further used to supply the Ice drugs across the state, he said, while adding that investigations are ongoing to establish backward and forward linkages.

          Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar following reliable inputs about the attempt to influx of large quantity of Ice drug and weapon consignment by Pak-based smugglers in the state, Police teams from CIA Staff-1 under supervision of DCP Harpreet Mandher, ADCP CITY-3 Abhimanyu Rana and ACP West Kamaljeet Aulakh carried out an extensive operation at in Chheharta area here.

          He said that Police teams had managed to arrest the accused Simar Maan, when he was waiting for someone to deliver this consignment.

CP Bhullar said that further investigations are being conducted to unearth the whole network of drug suppliers, dealers and their buyers. Efforts are being made to ascertain the total amount of narcotics procured by the arrested accused so far, he added.

          A case FIR no. 2 dated 3.1.2024 has been registered under sections 21 and 22 of the NDPS Act and section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar Commissionerate. It is pertinent to mention here that the commercial quantity of Heroin is 250 Grams, whereas, the commercial quantity of Ice Drugs is 50 Grams.

IEP Chandigarh

       The Ayushman Card Diwali Bumper Draw— a special initiative of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government to enrol the maximum people under health insurance cover, is all set to be held on January 9, 2024. The draw will be held at the Camp Office of Punjab State Lotteries, Zila Parishad Complex, Ludhiana in front of the public.

          Pertinently, a special Diwali Bumper Draw was launched by the Punjab State Health Agency on the directions of Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on October 16, under which anyone registering themselves for the Ayushman Bharat Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana will have a chance to win a reward upto Rs 1 lakh.

          The scheme, which was earlier planned till November 30, 2023, was further extended till December 31, 2023, so that maximum people can take advantage of this scheme.

          Chief Executive Officer of the State Health Agency Mrs Babita said that the initiative has garnered an overwhelming response, with more than 3.21 lakh cards generated.

          She said that 10 lucky winners will be selected through a random draw and the first prize will be worth Rs 1 lakh, a second prize will be worth Rs 50000 and a third prize worth Rs 25000 will be given. Similarly, the fourth prize is worth Rs 10000 and the fifth prize is Rs 8000, while, the sixth to tenth prizes will be Rs 5000 each, she added.

          She said that beneficiaries who obtained their cards during this draw period can visit the departmental website www.sha.punjab.gov.in for additional details about the draw. The department will inform the winners, and the list will be available on the website and through various media sources, said the CEO, while adding that, the general public is cordially invited to witness the draw.

IEP SAS Nagar (Mohali)/Chandigarh, January 4

          Following the commitment of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Maan to provide easy and transparent civic services to the residents of the state without any hassle, the state Government will complete construction of State of the Art ultra modern sub registrar office of Mohali.

          Divulging the details, Chief Secretary Mr Anurag Verma, who conducted surprise visit today, said that the residents who buy/sell any property will get all the services in this office on the same day under one roof and within 90 minutes the property buyer will get a copy of the registry upon completion of the entire registration process. He also conducted surprise visits to various offices such as the Tehsil Office, Farad Center, and RTA offices visited and directly interacted with the people to get feedback. He instructed the employees present in the offices that the Chief Minister has strictly instructed that those coming to work in the government offices should not face any problems and that the people should get transparent and timely services.

          Chief Secretary Mr. Verma also held a detailed meeting after visiting the newly constructed sub registrar office with the officials of the concerned departments and the officials of the district administration. Mr. Verma further said that a sub-registrar’s office equipped with modern facilities is being established to completely eliminate the hassle of the people and to save their time.

          Glancing at the unique aspects of the new office, Mr. Verma said that right from the preparation of the registry deed, purchase of stamp papers from the authorised centre of the Punjab Land Record Society, EKYC for identification, purchase and sale of the property. This whole process of taking high quality photographs including a witness of the deed and registration will be completed within 90 minutes with the facility of getting a color print of the registry under one roof. He said that different counters for writing the deed will be in this office. Apart from this, if someone wants to write the will himself or he wants to write the papers from home, then there will be an online counter for him.

          The Chief Secretary further said that due to the 2 percent discount in stamp duty for women, given the large number of women among the registrants, there will be special seating arrangements for women in the new office. Along with this, a waiting area and all basic facilities will be provided for common people to sit. The person taking his time slot for the registry will be able to come to the office by showing the appointment received on his mobile phone.

          Special Chief Secretary cum Finance Commissioner Revenue KAP Sinha said that given the upcoming challenges, facilities and staff should be deployed so that there is no problem despite the increase in the number of people coming to get registered.

          Prominent among others who were present at the occasion included Secretary PWD Priyank Bharti, Special Secretary Revenue Keshav Hingonia, Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain, Staff Officer T. Benith, SSP Dr Sandeep Garg, ADC (General) Viraj S Tidke, SDM Chandra Jyoti Singh, Chief Architect Madam Sapna, DRO Amandeep Chawla, Sub Registrar Birkaran Singh and Tehsildar Kuldeep Singh Dhillon.

IEP Chandigarh

          The State level Republic Day Celebration would be held at Patiala where the Governor of Punjab Mr. Banwari Lal Purohit would unfurl the National Flag and take the salute from march past on January 26th 2024. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann would unfurl the flag at Ludhiana. Mr. Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha would unfurl the flag at Bathinda where as Mr. Jai Kishan Rauri, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha would unfurl the flag at Gurdaspur.

          Disclosing the Schedule of all Cabinet Ministers, a spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that Mr. Harpal Singh Cheema would unfurl the flag at Jalandhar, Mr. Aman Arora at Amritsar, Dr. Baljit Kaur at Fazilka, Mr. Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer at Ferozepur, Mr. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal at Malerkotla, Dr. Balbir Singh at Sri Muktsar Sahib, Mr. Bram Shanker Jimpa at Mansa, Mr. Lal Chand at Faridkot, Mr. Laljit Singh Bhullar at Sangrur, Mr. Harjot Singh Bains at Shahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Mr. Harbhajan Singh at Roopnagar, Mr. Chetan Singh Jauramajra at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Ms. Anmol Gagan Maan at Tarn Taran, Mr. Balkar Singh at Moga and Mr. Gurmeet Singh Khuddian would unfurl the flag at Pathankot.

IEP Chandigarh

          Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise, and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that the state has witnessed a net 16.52 percent growth rate in revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a 10.4 percent increase in revenue from Excise up to December in the current fiscal year (FY) as compared to FY 2022-23.

          Disclosing this in a press release issued here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the net GST collection up to December in FY 2023-24 was Rs. 15523.74 crore against the net GST collection of Rs. 13322.59 crore during the same period in the FY 2022-23. Thus, the net increase in GST collection amounts to Rs. 2201.15 crore, he added.

          Adding further, the Finance Minister said that the revenue from Excise up to December in FY 2022-23 was Rs. 6050.7 crore, whereas, for the current fiscal year it rose to Rs. 6679.84 crore registering an increase of Rs. 629.14 crore.

          Revealing the figures of state’s own tax revenue, Harpal Singh Cheema said that Punjab achieved a growth rate of 14.15 percent in total revenue from VAT, CST, GST, PSDT, and Excise up to December during the current fiscal year as compared to FY 2022-23. He said that revenue from VAT, CST, and PSDT reflects a growth rate of 12 percent, 26.8 percent, and 5.24 percent respectively. He said that the state’s total own tax revenue during the last 9 months was Rs 27931. 16 crore against Rs 24468.14 crore collected during the same period in the year 2022.

          Reiterating the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Governtment’s commitment to push state into a higher orbit of growth and prosperity, the Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the state had witnessed impressive growth in its own tax revenue during FY 2022-23 due to the major reforms adopted by the state government, and in the FY 2023-24 many more reforms are being adopted to maintain the growth chart while extending every help to the honest taxpayers and tightening the noose around the tax evaders and illegal liquor trade.

IEP Chandigarh

In yet another initiative aimed at road safety ahead of the launch of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s flagship project ‘Sadak Surakhia Force’, Punjab Police, in a groundbreaking collaboration with MapMyIndia, has meticulously mapped all 784 accident black spots across the state on their navigation system Mappls App, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.

          “Citizens navigating using Mappls App will now receive voice alerts in Punjabi alerting the commuters about the black spot ahead, making Punjab the first state to Map accident-prone sites as part of the Road Safety,” he said.

          MapmyIndia’s Mappls app— a 100% swadeshi app developed especially for India, will alert the commuters by giving a voice message “Blackspot 100 meter di doori te hai (Black Spot is 100 meters ahead)”, making Punjab the sole state to map accident-prone locations comprehensively. Accident black spot is a place where road traffic accidents have historically been concentrated.

          Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Traffic Amardeep Singh Rai, while sharing his insights, emphasised that this driving aid is designed to elevate the overall safe driving experience on Punjab’s roads. He expressed confidence that the proactive implementation of voice alerts in Punjabi is a crucial step towards creating a more informed and vigilant driving community.

          “Punjab takes pride in being the first state in the country to implement such a comprehensive mapping of accident black spots”, he said, while adding that furthermore, this innovative safety feature has been tailored to user preferences, offering voice alerts in regional languages based on individual choices.

          Traffic Advisor Punjab Dr Navdeep Asija said that the collaboration with MapmyIndia represents a significant step forward in our efforts not only to streamline the traffic management across Punjab but also to prioritise the safety of citizens, commuters, and the general public, all without any associated costs.

IEP Chandigarh, December 31

Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer today released the New Year calendar on the eve of the New Year, highlighting the sporting achievements of Punjab. This calendar has been prepared by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala in which all the award winning sportspersons of Punjab have been included. Two calendars have been prepared, one wall calendar and the other table calendar.

These calendars were released in the presence of Special Chief Secretary Saravjit Singh and Punjab Sports University Vice Chancellor Lt General (Retd) J.S. Cheema.

Congratulating all the Punjabis and the sportspersons on New Year, the Sports Minister said that Punjab has a rich sports heritage and Punjabi players have made the mark with their sporting prowess all over the World. The State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is making continuous efforts to restore the state’s lost glory in sports. In the very first year of the new sports policy, the Punjabi players while breaking a 72-year-old record of Asian Games, won a total of 20 medals, including 8 gold medals.

Meet Hayer said that so far the players of Punjab have won 4 Padma Bhushan, 24 Padma Shri, 4 Khel Ratna Puraskar, 129 Arjuna Awards, 15 Dronacharya Awards, 21 Dhyan Chand Awards and 5 Tenzing Norgay Awards. All 202 Awardees have been included in the calendar.

Divulging more details Lt. Gen. (retd.) J.S. Cheema said that the unique aspect of the calendar is that the month of March, which is International Women’s Day, includes all the award-winning Women players, and the month of May, which is World Athletics Day, includes all the Award winners of Athletics. There are many award-winning sportsmen in a family like father-son, brothers, husband-wife, uncle-nephew etc. All these have been given a special place in the calendar.

IEP CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, December 31:

Amidst the ongoing campaign to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the vision of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police on Sunday busted a cross-border drug and arms smuggling racket being operated by USA-based smuggler Manpreet alias Mannu Mahawa with the arrest of its two key persons from Amritsar.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav has identified the arrested persons as Sandeep Singh alias Laddi, a resident of Guru Ki Wadali in Amritsar and Roshan, a resident of Heir in Amritsar.

He said that Police teams have also recovered 19kg heroin, Rs 23 lakh drug money, 7 pistols— including one sophisticated 9mm Glock, three .30 bore pistols and three .32 bore pistols— along with Pak stamped ammunition, currency counting machine and drone equipment including a remote controller and spare fans from their possession, besides, impounding their Hyundai Verna car (PB06BB4064), in which they were going to supply the heroin consignment.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused persons were directly in touch with USA-based smuggler Mannu Mahawa and were supplying heroin across the state after smuggling from Pakistan. Apart from the investigating backward and forward linkages, Amritsar Commisionerate Police teams are also working on the financial investigation on the Hawala links and property details for getting them freezed, he added.

Sharing details of the operation, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that Police teams have received reliable inputs that associates of smugglers Mannu Mahawa have retrieved the heroin consignment sent by Pak-based smugglers from across the border and were on the way to deliver it to someone.

“Acting promptly, Police teams from CIA Staff-3 under the supervision of DCP Harpreet Mandher, ADCP City-3 Abhimanyu Rana and ACP Central Surinder Kumar conducted a special police checking in the area of Islamabad and arrested both the accused persons when they were waiting for someone to deliver the consignment,” he said.

CP Bhullar said that further efforts are being made to ascertain the total quantity of narcotics and weapons procured by the arrested accused so far.

A case FIR no. 298 dated 31.12.2023 has been registered under sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act and section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station Islamabad in Amritsar.

IEP Chandigarh, December 31

Presenting an account of the performance of the Power Department during the year 2023, Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO on Sunday said that the department successfully faced many challenges besides setting new records during this year while providing free power to more than 90 percent of the domestic consumers by providing the facility of free electricity of 600 units bimonthly or 300 units monthly, besides providing free power to the 100 percent of the tube wells for agriculture in the state.

Disclosing this in a press statement issued here, the Power Minister said that with the efforts of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) witnessed a profit of Rs 564.75 crore from April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023. He said that the PSPCL has successfully managed to overcome the challenges in operationalizing the Pachhwara Central Coal Mine, which was closed for past 7 years, and the dispatch of low-cost coal from this mine as compared to the costly imported coal to PSPCL thermal power stations was started in December 2022. He said that about 30 Lac Metric Tonne coal has been supplied to PSPCL thermal power stations till now. He said sufficient coal stock for about 30 days is available at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat plants. He further added that about 20 percent more power has been generated by the state government thermal plants this year. He said that earlier the practice of short-term power purchase agreements was followed which resulted into purchase of expensive power in the hour of need. He said that now the PSPCL has been planning well in advance to make power purchase arrangements at competitive prices.

He said that the Punjab PSPCL has been awarded by the Union Power Ministry as the top performing company among power distribution companies (Discoms) across the country for energy conservation measures under the PAT (Performance, Achievement and Business) programme. He said that during the PAT Cycle II, 80,686 Energy Saving Certificates were issued to PSPCL. He said that the value of each energy saving certificate is worth about Rs 1840, thus the total cost of these amounts to Rs 14.84 crore.

Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said that the highest ever demand of 15,293 MW of power was met on June 23 this year, which was 7 percent higher than the highest demand of 14,311 MW of met on June 29, 2022. He said that apart from this, a day’s record energy demand of 3427 lakh units was met on September 9 this year, while in year 2022 the record energy demand of 3345 lakh units was met on June 29. He said that during the paddy season this year, more than 8 hours of supply was ensured for the irrigation without imposing any power cuts to domestic, commercial, industrial and other consumers. He said that during this year the available transmission capacity (ATC limit) was increased from 7100 MW to 9000 MW to import more power from outside the state.

Highlighting the initiatives taken to ensure sustainable and affordable solar power for the state, ETO said that the state government has signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) on July 21 this year, under which 1000 MW of solar power from projects located anywhere in India to be procured at Rs 2.53 per KVH and 200 MW of solar power from projects located anywhere in Punjab will be procured at the rate of Rs.2.75 per KWH. He said that 800 MW solar/hybrid power project was fully commissioned by December 2022 and power has started flowing in the PSPCL system at 2.63/kWh to Rs.  2.76/KWH. He said that additional Solar power of 400 MW is further scheduled to be commissioned by March 2024.

Referring to the improvement in power infrastructure, the power minister said the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) has been sanctioned for Rs. 3,873 Crores to augment or improve the distribution infrastructure such as 66kV lines & 66kV Power Transformers, 11kV feeders, 11kV DTRs etc. He said the Detail Project Report (DPR) for the modernisation works amounting to around Rs. 6000 Crore is expected to be approved by the Government of India by March 2024.

Referring to the efforts made to further prioritize and streamline services for the industrial sector, the Power Minister said that PSPCL has launched a dedicated cell – Industrial Facility Cell (IFC) this year, which is being monitored by the office of Chairman cum Managing Director of PSPCL. He said that a dedicated helpline WhatsApp number 9646119141 and an email address industrial-cell@pspcl.in have been launched under this initiative. He said that the industrialists can easily register their complaints through this WhatsApp number or email, and these complaints are being dealt with on a priority basis by giving immediate attention. He said that the PSPCL has also made arrangements for mobile transformers to immediately resume power supply by replacing the defective transformers. 

Disclosing the figures of recruitments in the Power Department and features of newly launched Accident Compensation Policy, Harbhajan Singh ETO said that from April 1, 2022 to December 15, 2023, a total of 4446 recruitments were made for various posts in the Power Department, including 3662 persons in PSPCL and 784 in PSTCL. He said that a new Accident Compensation Policy was also implemented this year for the welfare of workers and provision has been recently made regarding payment of ex-gratia amounting to Rs 10 Lakh in case of death due to an accident occurring during the course of employment and group insurance of Rs. 10.00 Lakh for the contractual workers hired by PSPCL as well as hired by contractors and outsourced agencies. He said the policy also covers private persons (Adults as well as minor) both in case of fatal and non-fatal accidents.

He said that One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme has been launched this year for defaulting consumers so that they can pay their dues. He said that earlier compound interest was charged at the rate of 18 percent on the outstanding payment, but under this scheme, the interest rate was reduced to a simple rate of interest of 9 percent. He said that under this scheme, the consumers whose connection has been disconnected for less than 6 months will not be charged any fixed charges while the fixed charges for only for 6 months was charged in case the connection was disconnected for a duration of more than 6 months. He said that option of paying the default amount in four installments was also provided under this scheme.

ETO said that the Power department also undertook the work on war footing to restore power at 595 places affected by floods across the state. He said that the PSPCL bear damage worth Rs 16 crores to the infrastructure due to floods. He said that officials and employees of PSPCL worked day and night to restore power supply in the affected areas, giving top priority to critical infrastructure like hospitals, medical facilities, telecommunication and water supply etc.

IEP Chandigarh, December 31

The Punjab Government has decided to change the school opening time to 10 AM from January 1, 2024 in view of winter weather in all government, private and aided schools of the state.

Giving information in this regard, School Education Minister Punjab Harjot Singh Bains said that all the schools in the state will open at 10 am on January 1, 2024 and will be closed at 3 pm.

Orders regarding time change will remain in force till 14 January 2024.