AKALIS FAILED TO EVEN TAKE CARE OF ‘GURU GHARS’ DURING THEIR MISRULE, SAYS CAPT AMARINDER

The Chief Minister also announced construction of two gates in the city in the name of the ‘Bade’ Sahibzadas, Baba Ajit Singh and Baba Jujhar Singh.

Recalling that his government had constructed the memorial of 40 Muktas in Muktsar and four gates at Fatehgarh Sahib, Captain Amarinder Singh said the Akalis had failed to do anything for any section of the society during their decade-long misrule. They had, in fact, ruined the state’s economy, he added.

The Chief Minister also initiated two more development works worth Rs.15.11 crore, including beautification and facade development projects at a cost of Rs.11.50 crore and strengthening & upgradation of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Marg at an estimated cost of Rs. 3.61 crore.

The Chief Minister, who paid obeisance at the Chamkaur Sahib earlier, said the shortage of parking space and proper roads around the gurdwara had been brought to his notice. He announced an additional Rs. 4 crores to Rs.11 crore already sanctioned for the Galliara scheme.

Underlining the importance of equipping youngsters with the skills needed to become employable, the Chief Minister said the Institute would provide the requisite skills to youngsters irrespective of their educational background. It would be built at a cost of Rs.500 crore, of which Rs. 100 crore would go into construction and the remaining would be spent on machinery, equipment, furniture and other infrastructure. He said that Public Works Department would finalise the layout and the construction would be completed in a phased manner.

Pointing to the revival of industry in the state, he said industrial units needed skilled people who can work with their hands. Money will not be allowed to be a constraint for the development of new colleges and universities, Captain Amarinder Singh added. The proposed Punjab Skill University (PSU) would provide nationally/internationally acknowledged training and certification, he further announced, underscoring the importance of skills training.

Reiterating his pledge to target 1000 jobs for youth a day, the Chief Minister disclosed that under the Ghar Ghar Rozgar & Karobar Mission, as many as 808 youth got employment just yesterday under government/private/self-employment schemes. 

Noting that the last time link roads were repaired in the state was in 2006 during his earlier tenure, he said his government had already spent Rs.32000 crore on repair of such roads and would be spending another Rs.30000 crore this year.

Giving details of the other projects, Captain Amarinder Singh said facade beautification under ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ would be implemented at a cost of Rs.11.50 crore, which includes beautification of Chowk connecting Morinda-Bela Road and Sanduan Road at a cost Rs.30 lakh, parking along with basic utilities for Rs.5 crore, facade development of market & improvement of premises in front of Gurdwara Sri Katalgarh Sahib worth Rs.5 crore, besides improvement of premises and parking at Gurdwara Sri Garhi Sahib at Rs.1.20 crore.

He also laid the foundation stone for strengthening and upgradation of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Marg (Section- Village Singh to Sri Chamkaur Sahib) at a cost of Rs.3.61 crore, to be completed within eight months.

The chief minister said that his government would also complete the Theme Park at a cost of Rs. 14 Crores. He said the work for this park was started by him in 2006 but was stopped by the Akali government.

Earlier, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi spoke about the historic and religious significance of Sri Chamkaur Sahib and pointed out that even during his previous term, Captain Amarinder Singh had given a major boost to its development and had upgraded it as Sub Division. He urged the Chief Minister to come out with a lift irrigation project for the area.

Addressing the gathering, PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singh Singla said that it was a historic day for Sri Chamkaur Sahib with the launch of various development works. He said that at a cost of Rs. 55 crore, 400 km stretches of roads were being laid and repaired in Sri Chamkaur Sahib.

Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said that Congress Government was committed to the region’s holistic development besides providing all basic amenities in the area. Lambasting the Akalis for trying to scuttle the development works, he said that the Congress Government had brought funds to the tune of Rs.20 crore from the Centre for Sri Chamkaur Sahib, Rs.20 crore for Fatehgarh Sahib and Rs. 32 crore for Sri Anandpur Sahib.

Others present on the occasion included Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, MLAs Darshan Lal Mangupur and Gurpreet Singh GP, Principal Secretary Technical Education DK Tiwari, Principal Secretary Tourism & Cultural Affairs Vikas Pratap, Special Principal Secretary to CM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and Deputy Commissioner Sumit Jarangal.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday expressed grief over the demise of former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) Chief and Ex-Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria (88).

Kataria, who breathed his last at AIIMS in New Delhi last evening, is survived by a son and a daughter.

In his condolence message, the Chief Minister described the former Punjab Rajya Sabha MP (1992-1998) as a committed soldier of the Indian National Congress who, throughout his life, worked tirelessly to strengthen the cause and ideals of the party.

Captain Amarinder Singh hailed the contribution of the veteran Congressman, who also served as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (2013-14), to the society and across the rank and file of the Congress party.

He extended his sympathy to the bereaved family, relatives and party colleagues on the death of Kataria.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: Education Minister, Punjab Mr. Om Prakash Soni handed over appointment letters to 25 dependents on compassionate grounds at his Camp Office, here today.

 

While addressing the new recruits, Education Minister exhorted them to make all possible efforts to fulfil their duty honestly and diligently and work towards strengthening the department.

 

He informed that after assuming office, he has handed over appointment letters to 409 candidates on compassionate grounds and added that there are clear instructions to the department that if any employee dies during the service, his/her dependant should get suitable appointment within a month of receiving the application as per qualification/eligibility.

 

Today, 25 dependants were handed over appointment letters including eight clerks, 10 Library Restorers and seven class four employees.

 

On the occasion, along with others Mr. Sukhjitpal Singh DPI Secondary and Mr. Inderjit Singh DPI Elementary were present.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking the immediate restoration of the historic materials removed from the library of Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, during Operation Bluestar in 1984.

Seeking the minister’s intervention in the matter, the Chief Minister said a delegation of some representatives of the Sikh Organizations Coordinate Committee from United Kingdom met him recently to discuss some issues of concern to Resident Indians and Sikh Community Diaspora of UK. The subject of the material taken from the Golden Temple was among them.

The Punjab Government was already considering these issues raised by the delegation at appropriate levels, but the matter of restoration of the historic material to Sri Darbar Sahib required urgent intervention of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Captain Amarinder Singh said in his letter.

The Chief Minister pointed out that most of the historic original valuable materials of Sikhism were taken away by the security forces in June 1984, and no account of that had been given so far. The Sikh community had been raising this matter time and again. Even the Punjab government had been requesting the Government of India to intervene to ensure that these historic materials, wherever available, should be restored to Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, he wrote.

The Chief Minister sought Rajnath’s indulgence in the matter to sort out the issue at the earliest, saying it would go a long way in meeting the long-pending demand of the community. He also extended all assistance and cooperation that may be required by the Government of India to resolve the matter.

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CHANDIGARH, MARCH 6, 2019: In order to check air pollution in non-attainment cities and towns across the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft action plan for conversion of natural draft brick kilns to induced draft brick kilns with rectangular shape and zigzag brick setting by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology. Brick kilns have been given till September 30, 2019, to make the conversion. 

 

The decision, taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, is in line with the directions of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) regarding prevention and control of air pollution in such cities and towns.

 

The draft order had been proposed to regulate the process of conversion of brick kilns to induced draft technology with zigzag setting under section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Accordingly, the proposed directions include: the brick kilns within non-attainment cities will not be allowed to operate in pursuance of directions issued by the CPCB on July 1, 2016, no new brick kiln will be allowed to be established in the state without having induced draft technology with zigzag setting, and no conventional brick kiln with natural draft technology will be allowed to operate beyond September 30, 2019.

 

The brick kilns in the process of conversion to induce draft technology with zigzag setting/yet to start the process intending to operate the brick kiln are required to pay environmental compensation on the basis of `polluter pays principle’ to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) with effect from February 1, 2019, till the adoption of induced draft technology. The compensation has been set Rs. 25,000 per month for zig zag setting with kiln of capacity equal to more than 30,000 bricks per day and Rs. 20,000 per month for kiln of capacity less than 30,000 bricks per day.

 

The PPCB would ensure that the brick kilns are operated in compliance with the code of practice prescribed by the CPCB, as well as the state board. The Department of Food and Civil Supplies, being the licensing authority, would create awareness and mobilise the brick kiln for conversion to induced draft technology with zigzag setting.

 

The Department of Science & Technology, through Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, would provide necessary technical assistance for implementation of the action plan. The Department of Power would ensure 15 HP power connections as required by the brick kilns for running the induced draft fan. The Deputy Commissioners would monitor the progress of the activities to be performed under the action plan at the district level. 

 

The action plan provides for expanding outreach at district level, engagement of Technology Provider (TP) by brick kilns, submission of feasibility reports & drawings to industry by TP, conversion of conventional brick kilns to induced draft brick kiln, issuance of completion/adequacy/provisional certificates to the industry, awareness & capacity building program, besides Monitoring and Governance at District and State level. 

 

As per the current status of conversion of brick kilns in the state provided by the Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, 482 brick kilns had already converted to new technology and 559 were in pipeline for shifting to induced draft technology.

 

Notably, around 2800 brick kilns are operating in Punjab, producing around 15-20 billion bricks per annum. This constitutes about 8% of total production of the country and the brick kiln industry employs about 0.5-0.6 million workers.

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CHANDIGARH, MARCH 6, 2019: In another significant move to boost industrial development in the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the GST incentives notified under the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017, to enable industrial units to choose between Net GST incentives or incentivized SGST on intra state sale.

 

The cabinet, at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, decided that the amendment would allow units which have filed their common application form on the Invest Punjab Business First portal between October 17, 2017 and October 17, 2018 (both days inclusive) would have the one-time option to opt either for Net GST incentives as per department notification issued on 17-10-2018 or incentivized SGST on intra state sale. Such units shall be allowed to exercise this option within 90 days from the date of the notification.

 

The incentivized SGST to be considered for reimbursement would mean that the eligible unit will be entitled to get reimbursement of SGST amount paid through cash ledger against the output liability of SGST on sale of eligible products. The eligible unit shall first have to utilize all the eligible ITC available in its Credit Ledger maintained on the common portal, including eligible ITC of IGST as provided under section 49 of the Punjab Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 as may be amended from time to time, before adjusting the SGST amount through Cash Ledger. 

 

It may be recalled that the net SGST formula for incentive announced in the new Industrial Policy 2017 was approved by the Cabinet during its earlier meeting on October 17, 2018. However, feedback and suggestions were received from industry, which wanted a change in net SGST incentive in line with the original notification issued on October 17, 2017.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: Meeting a long-pending demand of the teaching community, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has approved regularization of the services of 5178 teachers recruited by the Education Department, with full pay scales to be implemented from October 1, 2019.

The Cabinet has also regularized 650 nurses of the Health Department as per the department’s probation rules. These contractual nurses had been agitating for some time for regularization at basic pay.

Of the 5178 category teachers, 5078 were recruited in the Master cadre and 100 as Classical & Vernacular (C & V) Teachers by the Department in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, the Cabinet also decided that the services of those teachers recruited during 2014, 2015 and 2016 would be regularised at full scale on completion of their two-year probation. The cabinet has reduced the probation period from three years to two years. Further, the teachers would be assigned seniority from the date of completion of their probation period.

These teachers are currently paid Rs.7500/- per month and their salary would be now fixed at minimum of grade pay i.e. Rs.15,300/- per month till the time they are given full scale.

The Cabinet also recorded its appreciation for Education Minister OP Soni and Secretary Krishan Kumar for effectively handling the issue arising out of the teachers’ protests, and resolving the same amicably. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had directed the School Education Department, while chairing a meeting to review its functioning on February 27, 2019, to bring a comprehensive proposal before the next Cabinet meeting to enable the government to take final decision in this regard.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: In a bid to provide better animal health services to livestock farmers, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday decided to enhance the emoluments of service providers (Veterinary Pharmacists) and Safai Sewaks of the Rural Development Department.

 

While the emoluments of service providers have been increased from Rs.8000/- to Rs.9000/- per month, those of Safai Sewaks have gone up from Rs.4000/- to Rs.4500/- per month w.e.f July 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, on the pattern of service providers (Health Pharmacists and Safai Sewaks).

 

Notably, the Animal Husbandry department contributes about 13% of GDP in economic growth of the Punjab State along with Agriculture sector. The state government has already transferred back 582 Civil Veterinary Hospitals to the Animal Husbandry Department, including 582 sanctioned posts of Rural Veterinary Officers from Rural Development & Panchayat Department, to provide efficient animal health services.

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Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: Punjab Vigilance Bureau, today nabbed an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), Data Entry Operator and Private person working as agent of patwari red handed while accepting bribes in three different cases.

Disclosing this here an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said ASI Inderpal Singh posted at city police station, Rupnagar was nabbed red handed while accepting bribe of Rs. 6,000 on the complaint of Sucha Singh of village Kathiana, Hamirpur district (HP). The complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the accused ASI was threatening and pressurising his brother to withdraw a police complaint and demanding Rs. 10,000 for not taking any action against him. He informed that the deal was struck at Rs. 9,000 and he had paid Rs. 3000 as a first instalment of bribe to the accused ASI.

 After verifying his information, the vigilance team laid a trap and the accused ASI was arrested on the spot while taking bribe of Rs. 6,000 as second instalment from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.

In another bribery case the bureau has register a corruption case against Kamaldeep Singh, Revenue Patwari posted at revenue halqa Rani Walah, Tarn Taran district and his agent Satnam Singh on the complaint of Jagdeep Singh of village Mundapind in Tarn Taran district.   

The complainant has informed the VB that the accused Patwari was demanding Rs. 8,000 as a bribe for mutation of land belonging to his grandfather. He further informed that he had already paid Rs. 3000 as a first instalment to patwari. After verifying his information, the vigilance team laid a trap and the accused agent Satnam Singh was arrested on the spot while taking bribe of Rs. 4,000 of second instalment from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.

          In another bribery case Shamsher Singh, Data Entry Operator posted in the office of Tehsildar, Moga district was nabbed red handed while accepting bribe of Rs. 8,000 on the complaint of Sukhchain Singh resident of village Pandori Araiyan in Moga district.   

The complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the accused data entry operator was demanding Rs. 50,000 for the registry of his land. He further informed that he had already paid Rs. 25000 as a first instalment. After verifying his information, the vigilance team laid a trap and the accused data entry operator was arrested on the spot while taking bribe of Rs. 8,000 as second instalment. from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.

          The spokesman informed that three corruption cases under Prevention of Corruption Act have been registered against all the above mentioned accused at VB police stations at SAS Nagar, Amritsar and Ferozepur respectively and further investigations were under progress.

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 Chandigarh, March 6, 2019: State Vigilance Bureau nabbed a Sub Inspector red handed for accepting bribe of Rs 1 lakh.

               Disclosing this here an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said Sub Inspector Rajwant Singh posted at  police station SSOC, Fazilka was nabbed red handed while accepting bribe of Rs. 1,00,000 from complainant Gurlal Singh resident of Dhodrian Wali Gali, Moga district.

               The complainant has approached the VB and alleged that the above said accused has been demanding Rs. 3 Lakh to return his licensed revolver back him as he had got bail from the court in a NDPS case but the deal was struck at Rs. 2 lakh.

     After verifying his information, the Vigilance team laid a trap and the accused sub inspector was arrested on the spot while accepting bribe of Rs. 1,00,000/- as a first installment from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.  

                He informed that a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused at VB police station Ferozepur and further investigation was under progress.

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