PATIALA: Punjab Chief Secretary Mrs Vini Mahajan, today directed the deputy commissioners to ensure provision of toilets in the Government Schools and Anganwadis, already having facility of potable drinking water, till the December end, this year.
She was here to review the present status of the ongoing development projects and important schemes of the districts falling in Patiala Division as per the directions of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to expedite the projects that had slowed down during COVID era. She directed the DCs to complete the projects within the stipulated time. She interacted with the Incharge Adminsitrative Secretaries of these districts too for having a broad idea about the ongoing development works in these districts at grass root level.
Vini Mahajan while taking stock of the arrangements made to cope with COVID-19, asked the Deputy Commissioners for constituting advanced ground level teams, in case of invention of vaccination. Emphasizing on need of increase in the RTPCR tests to detect COVID-19, she said that apart from bringing all government employees under its purview, it was also made mandatory for every government employee to wear a mask in the office. Anticipating next wave of COVID, Mrs. Mahajan asked all the Deputy Commissioners to take special precaution in their respective districts.
Mentioning the two important schemes formulated by the Punjab Government for the welfare of poor slum dwellers and landless farmers, notified as the Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Act 2020 and Punjab Allotment of State Government Lands Act 2020, she asked the deputy commissioners to expedite the identification of the beneficiaries currently in possession of government land as early as possible.
During the meeting, she directed to clear the outstanding electricity bills of village water supply schemes and schools through Panchayats and asked the Deputy Commissioners to pay special attention to this. She also directed to get the stray dogs sterilized at the Panchayat level to deal with the problem of stray dogs in the villages.
Vini Mahajan also asked the DCs to come up with concrete plans for the next Kharif season, including requirement of Straw Management Machinery to stop stubble burning completely. She asked the DCs to ensure timely completion of development grants under the second phase of Smart Village Campaign and the Urban Environment Improvement Program.
The Chief Secretary also stressed on need to ensure maximum water supply connections and schemes in the villages under Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Pani so that clean drinking water could be available to the people.
While reviewing the development works from the Deputy Commissioners of the districts, Deputy Commissioner Patiala Kumar Amit said that the major development projects in the district including Rs. 500 crore 24×7 canal based water supply projects, Construction of Academic block of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab State Sports University, Rs 61 crore Bus Stand Project, Rs 43 crore Heritage Street project, Rs 200 crore beautification project for Chhoti and Badi Nadi, Jacob Drain and Eastern Drain projects, renovation of Rajendra Lake at a cost of Rs 5 crore and renovation of Medal Gallery Project are in the offing while LED Lights projects, Underground dustbins, Bio Remediation of Garbage dump at Sanour Road, allotment of 126 houses under Pradhan Mantri Sehri Awas Yojana also being done.
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said that Hi-Tech Cycle Valley being constructed in Ludhiana, Ludhiana Industrial Park Koom Kalan, Budha Nalla cleaning and renovation projects, 24×7 canal based water supply project to Ludhiana city, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, Ferozepur to Sidhwan Canal Sidhwan Canal to Bharat Nagar Chowk projects, Cheema Chowk Flyover and Ladowal Bypass have been given top priority and are in progress.
Rambir, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur apprised about the successful experience of direct sowing in the district, Medical College to be set up at Malerkotla and the acquisition of land for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway. The Chief Secretary also got information about the Homi Bhabha Cancer Care Center and PGI Satellite Center in Sangrur.
While reviewing the development works of both the districts with Tej Partap Singh Phoolka and Amrit Kaur Gill, Deputy Commissioners of Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib, she said that the DCs of all the districts to rope in the surrounding Panchayats for periodic assessment of the Gaushalas in their respective districts and for capacity enhancement. The DC of Barnala said that the sex ratio in his district has gone up to 965 this year as compared to 895 last year.
Responding to the queries of media, later on, Mrs. Vini Mahajan said that she was personally visiting each divisional headquarter and holding meetings with the Deputy Commissioners of the districts falling in that division to remove the stagnation in the development works after COVID-19. And instructions are being given to complete the ongoing projects in those districts on a war footing. On being asked about the Punjab Government’s arrangements to curb the further spread of COVID, she said that Punjab has been adjudged among the top three districts of the country having most of the RTPCR tests. She said that the government has increased the testing capacity to 30,000 per day. She said that the government was strengthening the level two and level three COVID centers in the state and increased the capacity of public and private centers by 30 per cent.
Among the administrative secretaries in charge of these districts present in the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue and Rehabilitation) Vihaswajit Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary (Animal Husbandry and NRIs) Mr. Kirpa Shankar Saroj, Secretary (Personnel) Mr. Vivek Partap Singh and Commissioner Patiala Division Mr. Chandra Gaind and Staff Officer/Chief Secretary Ms Sakshi Sawhni were also present.
