IEP Chandigarh, August 22

Haryana Transport Minister, Sh. Mool Chand Sharma, resolved 9 out of 12 complaints during a meeting of the District Public Relations and Grievance Redressal Committee held today at Sonipat. He directed the Officers to prioritise addressing public grievances.

In addition to the agenda, he also addressed the complaints raised during the meeting. He directed the relevant authorities to resolve the issues on the spot and emphasised the need to address the complaints presented by committee members.

During the meeting, complaints related to the Police Department, Revenue, Pollution Control Board, Irrigation, Public Works (Buildings and Roads) Department, and Transportation, among other departments, were discussed.

In one such case, Sh. Sharma previously had issued stern directives to the concerned officials during the last meeting, which had been implemented and the complainant expressed satisfaction with the resolution.

He also announced that the state government would provide free travel for women on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Sharma, said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi at the national level and Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal in the state, comprehensive development is taking place and the RCC road from Neemka to Sadpura and from Sadpura to Fatupura Road will be completed by Diwali at a cost of approximately Rs.6 crore.

Sh. Mool Chand Sharma was addressing the gathering at the inauguration of RCC road at village Sadpura, Faridabad.

He said that in his Ballabgarh assembly constituency, extensive development works have been rapidly undertaken since 2014 in every sectors including education, healthcare, electricity, water supply, sanitation, and road construction, with investments worth crores of rupees. Neemka to Sadpura 1280 meter long 18 feet wide RCC road with an amount of Rs 289.50 lakh and Sadpura to Fatupura 2 kilometer long and 18 feet wide RCC road with an amount of Rs 311.37 lakh will be ready by Diwali.

He further said that under the guidance of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi, the country is moving forward, and the day is not far when India will once again be known as the “Golden Bird” and a world leader.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

           Social Security, Women and Child Development Department is continuously working for the welfare of the Divyang(disabled) in the state. Accordingly, the Minister for Social Security, Women, and Child Development, Dr. Baljit Kaur, held a meeting with representatives of the Disabled Association.

          Divulging in this regard, Cabinet Minister Dr. Baljit Kaur said that in various departments, corporations and boards of Punjab, filling up of vacant and backlog posts related to disabled people, promotion of disabled employees, demands related to disabled sportspersons. On various issues related to pensions of disabled class, bank loans, other legitimate demands of providing facilities to the disabled will be resolved soon.

          The  Minister also said that the Punjab government is committed to make life easier for the disabled people in the state. The minister assured the association’s representatives during the meeting that their legitimate demands will be considered and resolved.

          On this occasion, Special Chief Secretary of Social Security, Women and Child Development, Mrs. Raji P. Srivastava, Director of the Social Security Women and Child Development Department, Ms. Madhvi Kataria, and Additional Director S. Charanjit Singh were present.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

To provide an opportunity for the students to profoundly understand the Police system from close quarters and to become active partners in governance and security, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Tuesday launched the Student Police Cadet (SPC) Scheme in the state. In the First Phase, over 11,200 selected students of the 8th standard of 280 Government Schools also participated in the function via Video Conferencing.

Divulging details about the scheme, the Chief Minister said that the course curriculum formulated by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) is to be imparted over a period of two years for class 8th students from the current academic year 2023-24. The same students would continue with the Scheme in class IX in the academic year 2024-25. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state government has allocated Rs. 50,000 per annum to each school for implementation of the Scheme and the scheme will be implemented in 28 districts (23 Revenue Districts and Five Police Districts) of the state. Under the scheme, 40 students have been enrolled from 10 selected schools of each district, taking the total tally to 11,200 students.

The Chief Minister informed that one class per month is to be conducted for indoor course completion, thus not leading to any significant increase in the regular school curriculum of the students, while half day twice a month to be kept for the outdoor activities preferably after the school hours or on the weekends. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that this initiative has been taken to provide an opportunity for the students to become familiar with the Police functioning from close quarters and to become active partners in governance and security.

The Chief Minister said that as per the scheme, the students would visit Police Offices, Police Stations, cyber cells, forensic science labs, police training centers and other government institutions as part of their curriculum. He said that students will also be made aware of traffic rules and regulations awareness program, participation in Republic/Independence day parades, unarmed combat training, training on Legal rights and laws, Internship program with the Police during different law and order duties, Other activities to engage students meaningfully in serving society, Courses on Character Building and Values.

Speaking about the subjects to be taught under this Scheme, the Chief Minister said that students will get deep insights about various topics including An overview on SPC, Crimes in Trends, Cyber Crime, Road Safety, Safety of Children, Awareness session on drug abuse, Corruption, Female Feticide, Domestic Violence, First Aid, Emergency response to Disasters and Quiz contest.

The Chief Minister informed that the Community Affairs Division, Police and Department of Education are the Coordinating departments to implement the Student Police Cadet Scheme. The teachers will be resource persons to conduct one indoor while two and half day outdoor classes in coordination with Police Officials posted in Saanjh Centers of the Police Department. He said that a special training program regarding Student Police Cadet Scheme has also been organised in which 269 school teachers and 59 Saanjh Officials were given training regarding implementation of this scheme effectively.

On this occasion Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains and other senior officials of Civil and Police Administration were also present.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

Punjab Public Works and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday said that the roads leading to the religious places of the district Tarn Taran will be repaired on the priority basis so that the pilgrims visiting these places should not face any inconvenience.  He expressed these views while laying the foundation stone of the special repair work of Fatehabad-Chohla Sahib road.

          Giving details about this project, the Public Works Minister said that the special repair of 21 Km long Fatiabad-Chohla Sahib road would be completed at the cost of Rs 13.46 crores. He said that this road connects two important National Highway NH-54 and NH-703. He said that this road also connects the historic towns of Khadur Sahib, Fatehabad, Chapari Sahib, Dehra Sahib and Chohla Sahib in Tarn Taran district. He said that after construction of this road would be maintained by the same contractor for next 5 years.

          Referring to the efforts being made by the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to provide employment opportunities to the youth, the Minister said that jobs have been provided to more than 31 thousand youth on merit basis. He said that the Power department and PWD has also recruited a number of employees under this employment drive. He said that Punjab government has also chalked out a comprehensive stretegy to promote solar energy in the state.

          On this occasion, MLA Khadur Sahib Manjinder Singh Lalpura said that Fatehabad-Chohla Sahib road was in bad shape since long. Thanking Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh E. T.O, he said that unpleasant incidents would also be avoided with the repair of this road.

IEP CHANDIGARH, August 22

          In order to protect Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)/Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) from being misused for terror funding or money laundering, Punjab Police in collaboration with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) organised a 1-day workshop at Amity University in Mohali on Tuesday. FATF is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

          As many as 130 members from 100 NGOs from various districts of Punjab participated in this workshop. IGP Internal Security Nilabh Kishore, OSD FATF Cell Rimjhim Pandey, Income Tax Officer Mr Abhineet and Jt Deputy Director, Union Ministry of Home Affairs Ashwine Rathore were among the dignitaries, who shared valuable knowledge with the participants in order to protect them from abuse by Terror Organizations. 

          IGP Nilabh Kishore said that the intent to organise this workshop was to sensitise NGOs about the various provisions of FATF and Income Tax related to charitable institutions to protect them from being misused for Terror Funding (TF).

          Meanwhile, all members of NGOs participated very enthusiastically in the workshop and thanked the Punjab Police and the Ministry of Finance for enlightening them about this aspect of misuse by Terror Organisations.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

Reiterating his firm commitment to further strengthen Cooperative Entities of the state, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Tuesday launched Verka Fruit Yogurt, One Litre Packing of Fresh Cream and Extended Shelf Life UHT milk.

          During the launching ceremony here, the Chief Minister said that Milkfed’s core strength lies in procuring best quality milk and production of top quality milk products. He said that in order to ensure quality products, Milkfed has been investing heavily on setting up state of the art milk plants & milk testing equipments, so that the quality of every drop of milk is well checked in the entire value chain and safe products are delivered to consumers. Bhagwant Singh Mann informed that in order to provide safe and quality assured products to consumers, state of art infrastructure is being created at Verka Dairy Mohali with an outlay of Rs. 325 Crore under JICA thereby setting up New Milk Processing Unit of 5LLPD capacity with Value Added Product capacity of 50MTPD for Curd, 4MPTD for Ghee and 10MPTD for Butter.

          Speaking about the expansion of Verka, the Chief Minister said that new products have been added in Verka’s kitty today with the launching of Fruit Yogurt in 100gm packing with three real fruit varieties namely Mango, Strawberry & Blueberry in 100 gm Cup, Fresh Cream in One Litre Pack with 120 days’ shelf life and Extended Shelf Life UHT milk with 90 days’ shelf life. He lauded the performance of Milkfed during the financial year 2022-23 & assured the dairy producers and consumers that Milkfed is committed to provide quality extension services to dairy farmers and delivery of quality milk and milk producers to consumers. He also assured full support to Milkfed Punjab in achieving its mission and vision. Bhagwant Singh Mann urged farmers to provide maximum quantity of Milk to Verka so that the entity cound be able to expand its base, besides offering lucrative rates to the milk producers.

The Chief Minister assured Milkfed of timely disbursement of budgetary provision of 100 crore financial assistance from Govt of Punjab so as to improve the procurement of milk and making the business dynamics at par with other states. Bhagwant Singh Mann appreciated the implementation of new BIS SNF formula by Milkfed, which is going to benefit the dairy farmers of Punjab in a long way and shall help them in competing with major dairy players of India.

The Chief Minister said that keeping in view of the demand of the market, Milkfed has been launching new milk products from time to time, which have been getting overwhelming response. He said that Milkfed is in the process of widening its reach on PAN India basis and launched fresh milk and milk products in Delhi & NCR markets. Apart from this, Milkfed is in the process of consolidating its presence in Delhi & NCR market by way of opening 30 Verka Milk Booths at various stations of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and 100 Milk Booths at prominent points on MCD Delhi’s land. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that stupendous efforts will also be made by Milkfed in reviving its old consolidated markets like Ahmadabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Jaipur.

Exuding confidence about the overwhelming response to Verka’s products, the Chief Minister said that Milkfed has recorded an annual increase of 9% in Packaged Milk, 32% in Curd, 30% in Lassi. 23% in Paneer and 21% in Kheer as compared to Financial Year 2021-22 during the Financial Year 2022-23.

On this occasion Chairman Milkfed Narinder Singh Shergill was also present.

IEP Chandigarh

PGIMER is going to start an exclusive Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Nehru Hospital of the Institute.  Six beds have been approved exclusively for Pediatrics.  These 6 beds will be under Prof Amita Trehan, Incharge Paediatrics Hematology and Oncology, Department of Paediatrics.  

 The tender for the construction of Pediatric BMT services in the Nehru Building has been issued.  This is in line with the commitment of Govt. of India to provide affordable and quality transplant services in Government Institutions.

 Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Services under Prof. Pankaj Malhotra and Prof. Alka Khadwal will handhold the Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Services in Nehru Hospital.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

In a significant step towards modernizing the Indian legal framework, Union Law and Justice Minister Mr. Arjun Ram Meghwal informed that the Central Government is vigorously undertaking the revision of key colonial-era legislations, including the Indian Penal Code 1860, Criminal Procedure Code 1898, and Indian Evidence Act 1872.

Union Minister Meghwal was addressing the Ministers, MLAs, high-ranking officials and legal fraternity while paying a courtesy call on Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal.

Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal warmly welcomed Union Minister at the Sant Kabir Kutir and provided insights into various state government schemes and initiatives. Expressing a long-standing relationship with Mr. Manohar Lal, the Union Minister praised the Chief Minister’s efforts towards the holistic development of Haryana.

The Union Law Minister commended the rapid pace at which the Central Government is working to amend colonial-era laws. He said that the process of removing archaic terminology and concepts deeply entrenched in these statutes was a formidable task. He also highlighted the critical role played by Union Home Minister Sh. Amit Shah in spearheading this transformative legislative effort, aligned with Prime Minister Sh. Narender Modi’s directive. After extensive analysis, it was found that these laws are related to the Irish system and it is necessary to adapt them to today’s situation.

It is worth mentioning that for the first time in 2019, Prime Minister Sh Narender Modi put forward the idea that all the laws made since the time of the British should be reviewed. These laws should be changed keeping in view the need of the hour in the interest of society. In the first year of Azadi ka Amritkal, the central government is rapidly moving forward to eradicate these traces of slavery and soon new reformative laws will be implemented.

The Union Minister also had a direct dialogue with the present high-ranking officials and legal fraternity regarding the amendment in laws.

Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Dushyant Chautala, Urban Local Bodies Minister Dr. Kamal Gupta, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Mr. Jai Prakash Dalal, Women and Child Development Minister Mrs. Kamlesh Dhanda, Minister of State Mr. Sandeep Singh, MLA Mr. Subhash Sudha, Chief Secretary Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sh D S Dhesi, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Amit  Agrawal and other officers were also present.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

Haryana Chief Secretary, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal today directed the officers of the Industries and Energy Department to complete all formalities of signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML) preferably within 15 days for setting up of Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) and solar power generation infrastructure under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme.

The Chief Secretary gave these instructions while presiding over a meeting on the establishment of MMLPs and solar power generation infrastructure under the PM KUSUM Scheme here today. He directed the officers to ensure the setting up of MMLPs and solar power generation infrastructure in a timely manner.

Highlighting the significance of the endeavor, CEO of the National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), Mr. Prakash Gaur said that NHLML, a wholly-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has been entrusted with a pivotal mandate – to develop Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) at 35 strategically significant locations across the nation. Out of the 35 MMLP sites approved by the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA), Government of India, Haryana is set to host two MMLPs: one in Ambala and another in Hisar. Additionally, a proposed MMLP is earmarked for the Delhi-NCR region. In light of this, NHLML has requested the Haryana government to identify suitable land parcels, ranging between 100 to 150 acres. The ideal land parcels should be strategically situated near rail lines/DFC and national highways. Furthermore, proximity to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, industrial hubs, or production centers is recommended to ensure the MMLPs’ commercial viability. The prospective establishment of MMLPs within Haryana bears immense promise. Beyond bolstering the state’s economy and generating employment opportunities, these parks will contribute to pollution reduction and elevate the efficiency of the logistics sector, he added.

He said that NHLML plans to implement the projects under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) scheme, which aims to promote solar energy in the agriculture sector. Under the PM KUSUM scheme, NHLML will provide vacant land parcels at interchanges along the national highways/expressways to solar developers. The developers will then execute the projects in the RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) mode, which is similar to the DBFOT (Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer) model. The developers will provide power to the state Discoms at the bid out price for a period of 25 years. The state Discoms will select the developers under the PM KUSUM scheme and purchase power from them at the bid out price. The Discoms will also pay lease rent to NHLML for the use of the land parcels. The implementation of these pilot projects is a significant step towards realizing the vision of ‘Green and Self-sustainable Highways’. The projects will help to reduce the carbon footprint of the highways and improve their energy efficiency, he added.

Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Mr. Anurag Rastogi, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Mr. Anand Mohan Sharan and senior officers of NHLML including Col. Anil Sen, Zonal Officer, Northern Region, Mr. Ankit Sangrai, SE, Zonal Office, Chandigarh, Mr. Narender Kumar, SE, Zonal Office, Chandigarh were also present in the meeting.

IEP Chandigarh, August 22

In a significant development, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal while chairing a key meeting with the officers of Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) today virtually gave job offer letters for various posts to as many as 746 candidates, showcasing the government’s commitment to transparent and efficient recruitment processes. The candidates who received job offers will have a 15-day window to confirm their acceptance of the positions offered to them.

In the meeting, the functioning of the Nigam was also discussed in detail. The HKRN has been working towards providing contract-based employment opportunities to the youth, fostering skill development and honest job placements.

The Chief Minister clarified that some people are spreading rumours that people are giving various kinds of inducements to get job opportunities through HKRN. He clarified that such allegations are baseless and untrue and urged the citizens not to be misled by such rumours. He reaffirmed Nigam’s commitment to a streamlined and transparent employment process, ensuring fairness and equality for all candidates.

He has further clarified that this employment is only for one year, if the candidate wants to rejoin the service again after one year, he/she has to apply again on the HKRN portal one month before the expiry of the contract period.

The candidates who were shortlisted today include posts from Level-1 to Level-3. Among these posts, 227 Assistant Lineman, 55 Driver (ERV), 47 Fireman/Fire Driver, 46 Data Entry Operator, 42 Block Cluster Coordinator, 40 Driver, 31 JE (Civil), 30 Sweeper, 20 Ayush Yoga Assistant, 15 Clerk, 11 Legal Assistant, 7 Accounts Clerk etc.

Chief Executive Officer, HRNL, Sh. K. Makrand Pandurang said that the initiative taken by the Chief Minister to constitute  Nigam is aimed to provide ample job opportunities to the youth and this step underscores the commitment of the government to address concerns of the contractual employees through transparent and credible means.

 “Till now several employment opportunities have been made available to many youths through the Nigam, as they have been selected in a transparent and robust manner,” he said.