IEP Chandigarh, July 25

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan held a meeting with officials of local governments, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, officials of various private companies and District Administration of Faridkot to resolve the problems faced by the residents of Kotakpura regarding the maintenance of old sewerage system and sanitation of the city.Mr. Sandhwan discussed in detail the problems faced by the residents with the concerned officials and asked them to ensure that the entire works of maintenance and sanitation of Kotakpura’s sewerage system will be complete in time bound manner. He asked the officials of Gujarat Gas Pipe Company to ensure repair the potholes as per the agreement after laying the pipes under the roads and streets in Kotakpura city. He asked that the work at new place should be started only after completion the earlier initiated projects.Mr. Sandhwan instructed the officials of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board to take strict action against the private company for not undertaking the sanitation work of Kotakpura city properly and said that the private companies can’t run away from providing scheduled services as per the agreement.Urging the residents of Kotakpura to participate in sanitation campaign, Mr. Sandhwan said that a motivational campaign should be run in this regard and the residents of the city should be made aware of proper disposal of polythene and other waste. He said that the residents should also be encouraged to install filtration system in the sewerage pipe outside their houses so that polythene and other solid waste can’t go into the sewerage pipe.On this occasion, Chairman Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board Dr. Sunny Ahluwalia, CEO Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board Mr. Malwinder Singh Jaggi, Additional Deputy Commissioner Urban Development Faridkot Lakhwinder Singh Randhawa, SDM. Kotakpura Virpal Kaur, Secretary Red Cross Faridkot Mandeep Singh, Karja Sadhaka Officer Municipal Council Kotarpura Ravi Kumar, Manpreet Singh Manni Dhaliwal, Surinder Singh Moti besides senior officials of Local Government Department and Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board were present.

IEP Punjab Chandigarh, July 21    

      Punjab Vigilance Bureau today apprehended a Patwari posted at Revenue Halqa Jandiala Guru in Amritsar district while accepting a bribe of Rs.5000.          Providing the details, an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said that Sukhraj Singh resident of village Dharar in district Amritsar had lodged a complaint that he had purchased one acre of land from Pritam Singh of the same village. Subsequently, mutation of the land was registered in the name of complainant’s grandfather Charan Singh.          The complainant said that around a month ago he found that the mutation of land was erroneously registered on the name of Sher Singh instead of his grandfather Charan Singh. When he approached to Patwari Harpreet Singh to rectify the error. He demanded a bribe of Rs.5000 to rectify it.          Acting promptly on Sukhraj Singh’s complaint, a team of Vigilance Bureau, Amritsar Range today laid a trap and arrested the accused Patwari Harpreet Singh while accepting a bribe of Rs.5000 from the complainant in the presence of official witnesses.A case under section-7 of Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the Patwari at Police Station VB, Amritsar Range. 

IEP Chandigarh, July 22

        Punjab School Education and Language Minister Harjot Singh Bains informed that Amity International School, Sector 79, has been directed to pay fine of Rs. 50,000 for not teaching Punjabi as a compulsory subject.          Giving detailed information in this regard, School Education Minister Bains said that it came to the notice of the Education Department that Punjabi was not being taught as a compulsory subject by the school and the Director School Education issued a show cause letter to the concerned private school. During the hearing, it came to fore that in violation of the NOC given by the Punjab government to the private school and the instruction contained in Page 2 Series No. 3 of ‘The Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Act 2008’ was being violated.          He said that Amity International School has been fined Rs 50,000 for the first violation of the conditions as per the rules of ‘The Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Amendment Act 2021’ and the concerned school has been instructed to deposit the penalty amount within five days and submit the report.          Bains said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not spare the schools adopting any kind of apathy towards mother tongue Punjabi and will take strict action against them. He also instructed the rest of the private schools to ensure that Punjabi should be taught as compulsorily subject.          Giving more information in this regard, School Education Minister Bains said that it came to the notice of the Education Department that Punjabi language was not being taught as a compulsory subject by the said school and acting upon it, the Director School Education issued a letter to the concerned private school. A hearing was called. During the hearing, it came to light that in violation of the NOC given by the Punjab government to the private school and the instruction contained in Page 2 Series No. 3 of ‘The Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Act 2008’ is being violated.          He said that for this reason Amity International School has been fined Rs 50,000 for the first violation of the conditions as per the rules of ‘The Punjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Amendment Act 2021’ and the concerned school has been instructed to Deposit the penalty amount within five days and submit the report.          S. Bains said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not spare the schools adopting any kind of apathy towards Punjabi language and will take strict action against them. He also instructed the rest of the private schools to ensure that Punjabi subject is taught compulsorily.

IEP Chandigarh, July 19     

     Working on its commitment towards empowering women financially, led by Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann the Punjab Government is ensuring implementation of schemes related to the economic empowerment of women.          Director of Social Security, Women and Child Development Department, Mrs. Madhvi Kataria, while giving information in this regard, said that according to the guidelines of Minister for Social Security, Women and Child Development Dr. Baljit Kaur, the department is working sincerely towards strengthening women economically. Under the same objective, a conference was organized at the sector 34 office of department with the aim of making the women entrepreneurs more aware of the modern ways of buying and selling through Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC).          She added that this department organized this conference to enable small and middle-class entrepreneurs of Punjab have better access to government facilities. Mr. Brij Purohit, Director of ONDC’s seller app of the Government of India, said that ONDC is very beneficial for Punjab and gave a presentation by sharing success stories from other states.          She said that it provides the right opportunity to small and home entrepreneurs and self-help groups to increase their income by connecting them with this seller app. An online market will be provided where all these institutions and entrepreneurs associated with them will be able to deliver their products to people on a large scale and at the same time will be able to connect with the entrepreneurs of other states.          Officials of Punjab Agro, Punjab Small Industry and Export Corporation, Punjab Khadi Board, Rural Development and Panchayat Department and local Government department participated in this conference. 

IEP Chandigarh, July 12

The Punjab Government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is undertaking relief measures on war footing to provide succour to the people inhabiting the areas affected by the floods.Divulging about the relief efforts being undertaken as per the directions of the Chief Minister, an official spokesperson said that as many as 1058 villages of 14 Districts have been ravaged by the flood fury with Roopnagar accounting for most of them.The spokesperson further pointed out that out of these affected villages, 364 belong to Roopnagar, 268 fall in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, 250 in Patiala, 71 in Jalandhar, 30 in Moga, 25 in Hoshiarpur, 16 in Ludhiana, 3 each in Sangrur and Ferozepur and 6 in Tarn Taran. Also, during the past 24 hours, 3 people died who hailed from Faridkot. Till now, 49 houses have been completely destroyed whereas partial damage has occurred to 180 houses.At the Gaushala in Brahman Majra, Sirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, 800 bovine have been saved through a rescue operation with one among these dying while 8 are in serious condition. Also, information has been received with regard to the death of 3 buffaloes, 2 cows in Fatehgarh Sahib, 9 in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, 2 Bovine and 6300 Hen’s in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, 7 Buffaloes and Bovine in Tarn Taran and 3 in Jalandhar. In Sirhind City 8 Piglets and 7 Pigs and a Goat has also been reported dead owing to the floods.The Relief and Rehabilitation Department is undertaking disbursal of relief material and organizing relief camps in the different districts affected by the floods. The department has held 127 such camps so far out of which 14 have been held in 14, 16 in Roopnagar, 7 in Moga, 3 in Ludhiana,  22 in Mohali, 2 in SBS Nagar, 2 in Sangrur, 18 in Ferozepur, 3 in Hoshiarpur, 7 in Tarn Taran, and 33 in Jalandhar.The Department is also in the forefront to distribute relief material to the people under which 16425 food packets abd 1816 medicines have distributed in Roopnagar, 12500 food packets in Patiala, 2000 food packets in Mohali, 1500 in SBS Nagar, 1000 Food Packets in Fatehgarh Sahib, 100 relief kits in Jalandhar. Besides, 15185 food packets have been provided too.In order to intensify relief efforts, boats have provided too with Patiala getting 21, Roopnagar 24, Mohali 5, Fatehgarh Sahib 4 and Ferozepur 15. In addition, a total of 13574 people in Patiala, Roopnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar have been evacuated from the flood ravaged areas to the safer places.As regards the efforts of the Animal Husbandry Department in these critical times, the Rapid Response Teams comprising Veterinary Doctors and other staff have been deployed in the affected zones. These teams are treating the animals by going from door to door and are also taking the help of boats to reach every household. Also, on the demand of 11 Districts, a sum of Rs. 50,000 per District has been released for purchasing medicines.

IEP Chandigarh, July 3

 In a step aimed at ensuring judicious use of the public money for development purposes, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced to introduce ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) for need based construction of the rural roads in the state. Chairing a meeting of the Punjab Mandi Board here at his office today, the Chief Minister gave a nod for introducing ‘Artificial Intelligence’ for need based construction of the rural roads in the state. He said that this step will ensure optimum use of the existing resources of the state along with ensuring top quality work on rural roads. Bhagwant Mann said that this technique will revolutionise the construction work on roads by saving a lot of public money. The Chief Minister said that the state government has decided to give a major facelift to the link road infrastructure by widening, strengthening and upgradation of rural roads across the state. He said that keeping in view the importance of this road network to facilitate the people, the state government has taken this decision. Bhagwant Mann asked the Punjab Mandi Board to ensure high quality of the work besides ensuring that every penny allocated for that project was invested in a justified manner. The Chief Minister said that there was a dire need for strengthening and upgrading these roads, so as to facilitate the people commuting in rural areas. He said that these arteries of travelling needed upgradation to ensure that the people could travel smoothly from villages to the towns, to and fro. Bhagwant Mann said that while preparing the strategy for construction of these roads utmost care has been taken to ensure that the roads which have not been constructed for over six years were given top priority. 

IEP Chandigarh, July 2

To help children explore their talent, Punjab is all set to organise summer camps for government school students from pre-primary to 8th standard across the state from July 3 to July 15, 2023, said the School Education Minister, Mr. Harjot Singh Bains.Bains said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the School Education Department is taking a unique initiative for the first time and summer camps are being organized in all the government schools. He said that more than Rs 5 crore has been released by the government for these summer camps. With this amount, the school heads will bring material for activities to the students.Education Minister Bains said that in the summer camps, children will be given work related to intellectual activities, health care, sports, art craft, basic values, mathematics, environmental education and language skills etc.Mr. Harjot Singh Bains said that he will be personally monitor the functioning of the summer camps and will also try to interact with the students. He said that children from class IX to XII will be taught as usual.

IEP Chandigarh, June 28

      While strongly condemning the exclusion of Mohali from the list of host cities in the schedule released today for the ODI Cricket World Cup-2023 to be held in India in the month of October-November this year, Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer has described this decision as being motivated by political reasons.          In a press communiqué released here today, Meet Hayer said that the exclusion of World Cup matches is open discrimination against Punjab as it is the first time after the construction of PCA Stadium Mohali that the World Cup is being held in India and no match is taking place at Mohali. He said that in 1996 and 2011 the World Cup Semi Finals were played at Mohali, but this time not even a single league match has been allotted to Punjab. Apart from the opening and Final matches, Ahmedabad also gets to host the India-Pakistan match.          Meet Hayer said that PCA Stadium Mohali is not only one of the top five stadiums in India but also comes in the list of prominent stadiums in the world. Mohali is always the first choice of cricket fans. Discrimination against Punjab will not be tolerated at any cost. He said that the State Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will raise the issue of this discrimination and open injustice with the BCCI.          The Sports Minister further said that Mohali has an international airport and the city also has better infrastructure and adequate hotels for the teams to stay. Holding the match at Mohali would give a big boost to sports tourism with the arrival of sports lover tourists from across the country and abroad sure to boost the economy of the State. 

IEP Mullanpur Garibdas (New Chandigarh), June 13

The State Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is committed to bring in a new comprehensive and effective sports policy to create a sports-friendly environment in the state and to make Punjab the number one state in sports. It was stated by Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer in his address while inaugurating the 8th Punjab State Gatka Championship at Gurudwara Ishar Prakash Ratwara Sahib here today.

The Sports Minister said that Gatka is a Martial Art Sport inherited from the Gurus, which has now been included in the National Games. With this decision, Gatka will reach even higher as a sport. Recently in the Khelo India Games, players from Punjab showed the best performance in Gatka and contributed a lot to the overall medal tally of Punjab. He said that the sports department will provide all possible help to promote this Martial Art Sport.

Meet Hayer said that the state government is making efforts to make the state number one again in sports. On the instructions of the Chief Minister, an effective new sports policy is being made which will promote sports culture in the state. Arranging coaches for the preparation of the players, increasing the diet amount, giving jobs to the players in addition to cash prizes, giving awards to the coaches etc. will be the main features of the new sports policy.

The Sports Minister said that Punjab has a rich heritage in sports and has given the country great players whose records have not been broken till date. There is no shortage of skills in Punjab, the only need is to identify and nurture this skill. He said that the state government is making efforts to create a sports-friendly environment in Punjab and also to take the youth to the sports fields.

Earlier, welcoming the Sports Minister, Rajinder Singh Sohal, President of Punjab Gatka Association said that in the 3-day 8th Punjab State Gatka Championship, about 800 boys and girls are participating in Under 14, 17, 19, 22, 25 and 28 categories.

On this occasion, Ratwara Sahib Trust Chairman Baba Lakhveer Singh blessed the players. Devinder Singh Jugni was also present on this occasion.

IEP Chandigarh, June 13

As a part of ongoing drive launched on the directions of Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann to generate job opportunities for the youth of the state, Punjab Employment Generation, Skill Development & Training department in association with Maruti Suzuki India Limited has organised a two-day Apprenticeship Placement Drive for the company at Multi Skill Development Centre (MSDC),  Hoshiarpur.The Maruti Suzuki India has selected as many as 44 ITI passed eligible candidates for the apprenticeship. These 44 candidates have been selected for the apprenticeship of one year in the trades of Fitter, Welder, Painter (General), Electrician, Turner, Diesel Mechanic, COPA, Machinist, Machinist (Grinder), Tool & Die, Motor Mechanic Vehicle, Tractor Mechanic etc. They will get Rs. 12,835/- as a monthly stipend and the attendance reward upto Rs.4,160/- will be given to them monthly by the company.Moreover, It will also pave a way for these 44 candidates to apply for a regular job in the multi-national Maruti Suzuki company after completion of this one year apprenticeship.Apart from this, they will be provided subsidised food, uniform and other benefits as per the company’s policy during the apprenticeship.Meanwhile, Punjab Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Mr Aman Arora congratulated to the selected candidates for their bright future ahead, while adding that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led state government is striving hard to provide maximum job opportunities to the youth.Notably, a total of 66 candidates— mobilised by the Employment Generation department and Maruti Suzuki India Limited from its own data base— participated in this drive, of which, 44 candidates got selected by Maruti Suzuki India Limited for 1 year.