Face2News/Chandigarh
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday accepted most of the genuine demands of the farmers unions after which they agreed to call off their proposed agitation on August 3.
“I am committed for farmers welfare and during my tenure farmers won’t have to stage protests for their genuine demands” said the Chief Minister after the meeting.
The Chief Minister, who had detailed meeting with the farmers union here at Punjab Bhawan, said that the due amount to be paid to the sugarcane farmers by Sugarfed stands at Rs.195.60 crores. Out of this Rs. 100 crore will be paid by August 15 this year and the remaining Rs.95.60 cores will be cleared by September 7. He said that thus all the pending arrears of Government and cooperative Sugar-mills will be paid by September 7. Bhagwant Mann said that even the private sugar mills, except Phagwara sugar mill, have assured that they will pay their arrears of farmers by September 7.
LOCAL BODIES MINISTER LAUNCHES PUNJAB’S FIRST HI-TECH INTEGRATED COMMAND & CONTROL CENTRE (ICCC) IN LUDHIANA: Punjab Local Bodies Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar on Tuesday inaugurated Punjab’s first hi-tech Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) under which 1401 CCTV cameras have been installed in the city.
The centre has been set up at a cost of Rs 35.96 crore to comprehensively monitor the city and will operate from MC's D Zone office in Sarabha Nagar, here. The ICCC will help to oversee traffic, law and order, monitoring of LED lights, STPs, CETPs, rooftop solar panels, encroachments and defacement, revenue collection of Municipal Corporation viz. Property Tax, Water & Sewerage, Disposal, Pet Registration, Cow-Cess Collection, assessment and decision making, measuring of air quality with data sourced from CPCB and PPCB, Vehicle Tracking System (GPS) for monitoring of solid waste trucks, municipal corporation vehicles, city bus services and others.
He said that 330 more cameras are being installed in the city which will be attached with ICCC. These new cameras will also help to monitor secondary garbage collection points, compactors along Buddha Nullah, stray animals, revenue collection i.e., property tax and water taxes post implementation of UID number plates following the integration with available GIS maps. 30 vehicle mounted camera systems are also being installed on vehicles of police and Municipal Corporation which will help to keep surveillance through live feed during demolition / protests / public gathering / functions in the city.
Nijjar said that 600 external IR illuminators with 200-meter range would also ensure better monitoring even during zero visibility. This will help increase the security situation in the city and we hope people will feel more secure, he added.
DRINKABLE CANAL WATER TO BE SUPPLIED TO 4 METROS OF THE STATE
Kapurthala: Minister for Local Bodies of Punjab Mr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar said that the Punjab is all set to provide drinkable canal water to the residents its 4 metro cities namely Jalandhar, Patiala , Ludhiana and Amritsar with an aim to save the rapidly depleting ground water.
Addressing the media persons here today after reviewing the ongoing development works and implementation of welfare schemes, the Minister said that Punjab Government has chalked out a comprehensive plan to ensure maximum utilisation of river/canal waters and in first phase 4 big cities would get the canal water under 25 to 30 year plan. Besides that 85 other cities and towns have also been identified which falls within the 15 KM radius of any river or canal so that the drinkable water to be provided to major portion of Punjab in an easy manner.
Directing the officials to ensure quality control, the minister said that contractors who didn’t work as per the specifications must be blacked out for future works to ensure quality in government works.
Reviewing the current status of setting up Medical College in Kapurthala, the Minister said that he would take up the matter with the concerned departments so that the work may be started as soon as possible. It may be mentioned here that the proposed medical college would be set up in 11.50 acre in the city .
Taking serious note of road quality and water lodging, the minister said that there should be zero tolerance towards poor quality of roads and PWD and Municipal Corporations must work in a transparent manner to ensure quality check in a strict way.
CEO HOLDS MEETING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab Dr S Karuna Raju held a meeting with the representatives of political parties with the commencement of Special Summary Revision – of Photo Electoral Roll w.r.t. 01.01.2023 as the qualifying date. Dr Raju apprised the representatives of recognized political parties that consequent upon amendment in Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and corresponding changes in the Registration of Electors Rule, 1960, provision of four qualifying dates – 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October has been introduced w.e.f. August 1, 2022.
CEO Punjab along with Additional CEO Punjab B Srinivasan informed the representatives of political parties that the process of collection of Aadhar number of registered electors on a Voluntary Basis has begun. Form 6B has been introduced for the purpose of voluntary collection of Aadhar card numbers. Electors can submit the form through online/offline mode, however, thrust shall be placed on online mode.
Dr Raju said that the pre-revision process will take place between the period of August 4, 2022, to October 24, 2022, which will include rationalization/re-arrangement of polling stations and removal of discrepancies in Demographically Similar Entries (DSEs) and Photo Similar Entries (PSEs) in EPICs. Revision activities will be held between the period of 09.11.2022 to 08.12.2022 and citizens will also get the opportunity for filing claims and objections during this period, he added.
Seeking the cooperation of political parties, CEO Punjab stated that special camps will be held on November 19 and 20, 2022, and December 3 and 4, 2022 where Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will be present at their respective polling stations. He also appealed to all the representatives of political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and participate in the Special Camps to ensure the enrolment of eligible electors.
The representatives of the political parties who attended the meeting include Manjit Singh and Bhupinder Singh from All India Trinamool Congress, NK Verma from Bharatiya Janata Party, Mohinder Pal Singh from Communist Party of India and Charanjit Singh Brar from Shiromani Akali Dal.
PUNJAB MEETS HIGHEST DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY DURING SUMMER SEASON
The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has been successful in providing uninterrupted power supply to paddy farmers of the state, in accordance with the promise made by chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. Sharing this information today, power minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said electricity has been provided to all Agricultural Pumpsets in the state and 8 hours of power supply is ensured daily to the tubewell connections.
He said, that the State Government had issued a notification on May 23, 2022, to provide 8 hour power supply daily from June 10, 2022, to all AP tubewell connections across the State. He said that during the summer season from March to July, 2022, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on June 29, 2022 has set a record by meeting the peak demand of 14,207 MW electricity which is 5.78 percent higher than the peak demand of 13,431 MW electricity last year on July 01, 2021.
The Power Minister further said that the total electricity consumption in the State from March to July, 2022 is 31,505 million units, which is 14.23 percent higher than last year's consumption of 27,580 million units in the corresponding period. He said that P.S.P.C.L. has broken the previous year's record of supplying 13,431 MW of electricity by successfully meeting the highest demand of 14,207 MW of electricity during the current year. Despite the increasing demand for power due to rise in temperature during this summer season, PSPCL has successfuly provided electricity supply to agricultural consumers for 8 hours daily and to all other categories of consumers 24 hours without power cuts.
CM ANNOUNCES CASH PRIZE WORTH RS 40 LAKH FOR CWG MEDAL WINNER HARJINDER KAUR
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced a cash prize of Rs 40 lakh for weightlifter Harjinder Kaur who bagged the bronze medal in the ongoing Commonwealth games at Birmingham (United Kingdom).
In a statement issued here today, the Chief Minister, while congratulating Harjinder Kaur, said that this budding player from village Mehas near Nabha has made the country proud by this rare feat. He said that the state government will give cash prize worth Rs 40 lakh to her as per the Sports Policy of Punjab. Bhagwant Mann expressed the hope that this achievement of Harjinder Kaur will inspire the other players especially the girls to excel in the fields of sports and bring laurels to the country.
The Chief Minister further said that state government is committed to encouraging those who excel in the field of sports, adding, that these players will be given cash prizes whenever they do well. He said that reviving sports culture in Punjab is the topmost priority of the state Government. Bhagwant Mann said that sports can act as a catalyst to wean the youth of state from the menace of drugs by channelizing their unbounded energy in a positive direction.
The Chief Minister also said that students in educational institutions will also be motivated to take up sports as a character building exercise. He said that sports not only develops one's overall personality but also inculcates the leadership qualities of self discipline and sportsman spirit amongst them to become ideal citizens of the society. Bhagwant Mann said that Punjabis have a long association with sports as many sportspersons from the state have carved a niche for themselves in national and international events adding that concerted efforts will be made to ensure that Punjab soon becomes a front runner state in field of sports across the country.
CM ASKS GoI TO WITHDRAW GST LEVIED ON SARAIS IN VICINITY OF SRI DARBAR SAHIB, AMRITSAR
SAYS THIS DECISION HAS HURT THE SENTIMENTS OF ALL THE DEVOTEES VISITING THE SHRINE
Describing the decision of the Government of India to levy GST on the Sarais in the vicinity of Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar as an arbitrary and irrational decision, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday demanded that it should rolled back.
In a statement issued here today, the Chief Minister condemned the decision of the Union government to levy the GST on the sarais of Golden Temple. He said that the sarais including Guru Gobind Singh NRI Niwas, Baba Deep Singh Niwas and Mata Bhag Kaur Niwas are associated with the Golden Temple. Bhagwant Mann said that these Sarais are meant for the accommodation of the devotees visiting the holy shrine and have always been an integral part of the gurdwara complex.
The Chief Minister said that since decades these sarais have been providing comfortable stay to the Sangat arriving at Sri Darbar Sahib on no profit basis. He said that the levying of GST on room charges of these three sarais will lead to higher tariffs thereby putting a huge burden on the pocket the pilgrims who come at Sri Darbar sahib for paying obeisance from across the globe. Bhagwant Mann unequivocally said that the Sarais at the Sri Darbar Sahib complex are non commercial entities and have been constructed for the convenience of thousands of pilgrims coming daily at this holy shrine.
The Chief Minister lamented that this decision of GoI is baseless and must be withdrawn without any delay. Bhagwant Mann said that earlier the NDA government had in another such decision imposed GST on langar. He said that now again through this act the Union government has bruised the psyche of all the devotees coming at Sri Darbar Sahib in general and Sikhs in particular.
