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Tag: Punjab Chief Minister

  • Punjab CM Mann moves confidence motion in state Assembly

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday moved a confidence motion in the state assembly.

    Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday gave his nod to convene the House on September 27 after days of squabble between the Raj Bhavan and AAP government over holding a session of the Assembly.

    The CM tabled the Motion of Confidence, but two BJP MLAs — Ashwani Sharma and Jangi Lal Mahajan — had earlier walked out of the House after Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that Mann would move the confidence motion.

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday moved a confidence motion in the state assembly.

    Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday gave his nod to convene the House on September 27 after days of squabble between the Raj Bhavan and AAP government over holding a session of the Assembly.

    The CM tabled the Motion of Confidence, but two BJP MLAs — Ashwani Sharma and Jangi Lal Mahajan — had earlier walked out of the House after Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that Mann would move the confidence motion.

  • Bhagwant Mann sacks his Corrupt minister

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  Giving a dramatic push to probity in public life, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday sacked his health minister Dr Vijay Singla and got him arrested for seeking cut money for awarding government contracts and clearing payments.

    Singla was later produced before a local court, which remanded him in three-day police custody. For his part, Singla said, “It is conspiracy to defame the AAP and Bhagwant Mann government.” Both Singla and his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Pardeep Kumar were booked by the police under the Prevention of Corruption Act based on a complaint from Rajinder Singh, Superintending Engineer in the Punjab Health Systems Corporation.

    The FIR said Singla’s OSD Kumar had demanded that the officer fetch 2% commission for a construction contract worth Rs 41 crore the minister had already cleared and for a separate payment of Rs 17 crore made to contractors in March. Since the total amount involved was Rs 58 crore, 2% works out to Rs 1.16 crore.

    When Rajinder Singh brought the harassment to Mann’s notice, he was asked to gather proof. The officer then taped a meeting he had with Singla and Kumar, where they reiterated their demand for bribe and said the cut money should be paid to his nephew. The officer handed over the explosive tape to the Chief Minister’s Office.

    Mann is learnt to have then confronted the minister with the recording and asked if the voice on the tape was his. Singla reportedly replied in the affirmative and was sacked. He is a first-time MLA and minister, as are most ministers in the Punjab ministry.

    Mann put out a video message making the announcement. “We found substantial proof of his corruption. I do not care if the opposition wants to use this to hit out at us,” he nonchalently claimed. Mann also sought to take the high moral ground saying this is the second time in the country’s history that a minister has been sacked by his own party for graft. The first one, he added, was in 2015 when AAP founder and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chucked his own food supplies minister Asim Ahmed Khan on charges of corruption and handed him over to the CBI for questioning.

    Kejriwal, of course, was suitably impressed. “Your action has brought tears to my eyes,’’ he told Mann. But the Opposition mocked Kejriwal for claiming earlier that corruption had been completely eradicated in Punjab within just 10 days of the Mann government in the saddle.

    Whistleblower’s dramatic complaint

    About a month ago, Rajinder Singh, Superintending Engineer in Punjab Health Systems Corporation, was called by Pardeep Kumar, OSD to Singla (pic), to room number 203 of Punjab Bhavan

    Singla was in a hurry to leave, but told the officer to fully trust Kumar. “Whatever Kumar says is what I intend to say,” he assured and left

    Kumar mentioned allotments of construction works worth L41 crore and a separate Rs 17 crore already paid to contractors in March

    2% of the total Rs 58 crore or Rs 1.16 crore should be paid as bribe, they said

    The officer refused and requested that he be sent back to his parent department. He is due to retire on November 30

  • Mann, Kejriwal sign pact to replicate Delhi model on education, health in Punjab

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH : There was a glint of a freshly injected hope in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s eyes as he stood with his party boss Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. The occasion: the signing of a knowledge sharing agreement between the two CMs. Punjab will now replicate Delhi’s education and health model – a promise AAP made to the Punjab voters in February Assembly polls. “Delhi schools look like those in Canada.

    Even the general wards of government hospitals are better equipped than ICUs in most hospitals. During the peak of Covid, I had arranged ventilators through MPLAD funds but had to donate them to a private hospital because the district-level hospitals did not have doctors to operate them and support ventilator patients,” said Mann. 

    On a two-day trip to Delhi,  Mann is apprising himself of the quality of education and the state of health institutes in the national capital. The agreement will facilitate the two governments to learn and share their knowledge, experience and skills for public welfare.

    “Cooperation and collaboration is the only way ahead for Delhi and Punjab. We’ll fulfil Babasaheb Ambedkar and Sardar Bhagat Singh’s dreams,” said Kejriwal. Mann was in sync. “This agreement is a watershed moment. We’ll make our state a ‘Hasta-Khelta-Rangla’ Punjab again,” he said.

    Before inking the agreement, a team of Delhi ministers and officials gave an in-depth presentation on the state’s education and health models to their Punjab counterparts. They said about 25% of the total budget goes to education. The Delhi health model follows an aam aadmi approach to extend quality healthcare services from mohallas to hospitals.

    Mann said 117 government schools and an equal number of ‘Mohalla Clinics’ will be set up in each assembly constituency across Punjab. He brushed aside the opposition criticism against the agreement, saying it was not one-sided. 

    However, Punjab’s opposition parties were critical of the agreement. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal accused Mann of selling off the state’s interests to Delhi. “AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has become the de-facto CM of Punjab,” he said. “It is a black day for the state. Never before in the history of the state have outsiders been given control of the state. Punjab has become subservient to Delhi, which is hardly a state,” Sukhbir said. 

    Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the agreement was akin to the Lahore Durbar move, which invited the British in 1846 to safeguard the safety of the Maharaja.

  • Punjab government bars private schools from increasing fee

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Days before the next academic session begins, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday directed all private schools against increasing fee or compelling children to buy books, uniform or stationery items from select shops.

    Mann said parents want to provide education to their children but it has become costly, making it unaffordable.

    “Today, I am going to announce two big decisions which our government has taken related to the education sector,” said Mann before making the announcements in a video message.

    “No private school in Punjab will hike fee in this semester when new admissions take place,” Mann said.

    He said no private school in the state will compel children or their parents to purchase books, uniform and stationery items from a particular shop.

    He said the private schools will have to provide children and their parents with addresses of all shops selling stationery items, books and the uniform.

    “It is up to parents from where they want to purchase these items for their children,” Mann said. He said the decisions will come into force with immediate effect.

    A detailed policy in this regard will be issued soon, he said. Earlier on March 19, Mann threw open 25,000 jobs in various state government departments, including 10,000 in the Police Department.

    On March 28, Mann announced the rollout of the doorstep ration delivery scheme, saying the poor will no longer need to stand in queues as good quality ration will be delivered on their doorstep. However, the scheme will be optional for the eligible beneficiaries, Mann had said.

    In last month’s Punjab Assembly polls, AAP stormed to power, decimating the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance.

    The Congress, which was in power in the state, got 18 seats in the 117-member assembly, while the AAP won 92 seats.

  • BSP leadership sold party to SAD; AAP modern East India Company: Charanjit Singh Channi

    By PTI

    JALANDHAR: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday accused the BSP leadership of backstabbing the Scheduled Castes community by “selling” the party to the Shiromani Akali Dal.

    He also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), calling it the modern day East India Company aimed at “plundering the wealth of the state”, and said its national convener Arvind Kejriwal does not even know how to milk a cow.

    Targeting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Channi said it no longer represents the ideology of its founder Kanshi Ram.

    ​ALSO READ | Punjab polls: Kejriwal promises international airport in Jalandhar; Amarinder attacks Channi again

    Its leadership backstabbed the Scheduled Castes community by “selling” the party to the Akali Dal, Channi said.

    He alleged that the BSP “sold” 15 of 20 seats allotted to them to the Akali Dal.

    The BSP leadership has made itself a “slave” of the Akali Dal, he added.

    For the Assembly polls next year, the SAD has forged an alliance with the BSP.

    As per the seat-sharing arrangement, the Mayawati-led party will fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab while the rest will be contested by the SAD.

    Taking on AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, the CM dared him to explain why Punjabis should believe him when his own “flock does not have faith in him”.

    ALSO READ | ​’Channi will end up as night watchman’: Amarinder slams Sidhu as Punjab Congress poll panel chief

    He claimed three of four AAP MPs elected in 2014 have left the party and even 11 out of 20 MLAs elected in 2017 have too left.

    Channi said this is indicative of the fact that the Aam Aadmi Party is a “house of cards that is bound to doom in a day or two”.

    The chief minister said Kejriwal has no basic knowledge about the state due to which he does not know that in Punjab, every youth has to do multitasking every day for running his household.

    Kejriwal does not even know how to milk a cow, what does he know about problems of the state, Channi said.

    Terming AAP the “modern East India company”, he said Kejriwal’s party aims at “plundering wealth of the state”.

    ALSO READ | Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi starts loan waiver scheme for SC, backward classes

    Channi said he himself faced hardships, so he is well aware of problems of the common man.

    Due to this reason only, he is ensuring optimal utilisation of all government funds for the well-being of the poor and common man, he claimed.

    Addressing the gathering, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar urged people not to vote by falling in the “malicious” propaganda of any party.

    “Those leaders who are teaching the lesson of nationalism to us today were nowhere in scene when India was fighting for freedom and only the Congress Party did the fighting,” he added.

    In his address, AICC general secretary Harish Chaudhary slammed the Akalis, the BJP and the AAP leadership for working against the interest of the state.

    He said Channi is the representative of the poorest of poor in the state.

  • Charanjit Singh Channi will end up as ‘night watchman only’, says ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Monday said he felt sad about the way Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was being treated by the Congress party.

    He said despite having ‘tremendous potential’, the CM is being made to be subservient to the whims of State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

    “Channi will eventually end up as a night watchman only,” the former CM said.

    Reacting to the appointment of Sidhu as the Chairman of the Congress Election Committee for Punjab, Singh said it was “unprecedented” that a Chief Minister was made subservient to the PCC president.

    ​ALSO READ | Punjab polls: Ajay Maken in top Congress post irks Amarinder, Akalis

    “No self respecting leader should accept such humiliation”, he said.

    Congress on Monday announced the formation of an election committee for the upcoming state assembly polls.

    Besides Channi, senior party leader Ambika Soni, former Punjab Congress chief and campaign committee chairman Sunil Jakhar, and chairman of manifesto committee Partap Singh Bajwa, are part of the committee, including many of the party’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs and state ministers.

    Amarinder, who floated his own party to contest the upcoming polls after his unceremonious exit as CM, was succeeded by Charanjit Singh Channi.

    ALSO READ | Punjab elections 2022: Amarinder Singh, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat may meet on Tuesday

    He also accused the Congress of playing Dalit card by choosing Channi as the CM.

    “Was he just a showpiece to get the SC votes?” he asked.

    “Just because someone is behaving like a spoilt child and throwing tantrums day in and day out, you are submitting to all his blackmail and in the process insulting and humiliating your Chief Minister, who is doing a good job”, he said, adding, “the Congress is going down the dumps”.

    Punjab, where the Congress is seeking to retain power, will go to assembly polls early next year.

  • Punjab CM Channi promises farmers to quash old, stubble burning FIRs against them

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday promised farmers to drop old cases of stubble burning against them but asked them not to set the paddy straw on fire in future.

    The chief minister also promised to cancel all FIRs against farmers, registered in the state during their protests against the Centre’s three farm laws.

    He also announced his government decision to raise the compensation for the loss of the cotton crop to Rs 17,000 per acre from Rs 12,000 per acre.

    Channi made these promises during a meeting with the representatives of Punjab’s 32 farm bodies here.

    Addressing the media after the meeting, Channi, while acceding to farmers’ demands, said his government will cancel all FIRs registered by the Punjab Police against farmers protesting against farm laws in the state.

    “With this, we want that no farmer should set stubble on fire in future and the government will act strictly against the violation,” he said.

    “But if any old FIR related to the stubble burning is there against anyone, we are cancelling it,” he added.

    “But it is my request to farmers that they should not set the straw on fire as it causes pollution,” Channi reiterated.

    Channi’s statement comes amid rising incidents of stubble burning with Punjab recording over 69,000 such incidents this season.

    Stubble burning is banned but many farmers continue to flout it.

    Delhi and Haryana have taken several emergency measures including the closure of schools (in four districts in Haryana) and a ban on construction work to curb air pollution.

    Later while speaking on the issue of stubble burning, farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said he told the CM that the decision of the National Green Tribunal should be implemented in which farmers having less than 2.50 acres of land should be given farm machinery for the management of crop residue free of cost.

    Farmers were being fined but no machinery was given to them, he said, adding he also asked the state government why the central funds of Rs 375 crore for giving subsidy on the machinery has not been released.

    He asserted that the number of farm fire incidents were less this season.

    On the relief related to cotton crop loss due to pink bollworm attack, Channi announced a hike in the compensation amount from Rs 12,000 to Rs 17,000 per acre, besides a 10 per cent of the relief to farm labourers engaged for the picking of cotton.

    Channi said giving higher compensation would cost nearly Rs 200 crore more to the state government over the already approved sum of Rs 416.18 crore for it at the rate of Rs 12,000 per acre.

    He also told farmer leaders that he would personally take up the matter with the Punjab governor to withdraw the cases against the farmers who participated in the protest march towards Punjab Raj Bhawan against farm laws.

    Taking a serious note of the supply of “spurious quality” paddy seeds to farmers in Moga, Channi asked the agriculture minister to take stern action against the fraudulent seed company and ordered due compensation to affected farmers.

    On the “meagre compensation” to farmers for their land acquired for the Delhi-Katra-Amritsar expressway, Channi said he would personally convene a meeting of all divisional and deputy commissioners to rationalise the rates of compensation.

    Referring to the demand for waiving the outstanding farm loans, Channi said he would have a separate meeting with them after detailed deliberations with the state’s Finance Department.

    Expressing solidarity with bereaved families of farmers, who lost their breadwinners during farmers’ agitation, the chief minister said the state government has already provided government jobs to 152 victim families, besides giving a financial aid of Rs 5 lakh to each of them.

    Talking to reporters later, farmer leader Rajewal said they also raised the issue of pension for farmers and farm labourers.

    He also said the farm bodies in Punjab were against Haryana farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni who was trying to implement his “political agenda” in the state with his “Mission Punjab”.

    Chaduni had earlier asked farmer outfits in Punjab to contest the upcoming state assembly polls.

    Meanwhile, before the meeting with the chief minister, several farmer leaders held a protest outside the meeting venue, claiming that they were allegedly pushed by the security men when they were trying to enter the Punjab Bhawan.

    They threatened not to attend the meeting till the CM tenders apology for the same.

    Punjab Agriculture minister Randeep Singh Nabha came out to pacify them and later Channi met them to placate them.

    Though a few pacified farmer leaders went inside with Nabha and Channi, some farmer leaders refused to attend the meeting.

    Then Nabha came out again and urged farmer leaders to join the meeting.

  • Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi promises farmers to quash old, stubble burning FIRs against them

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has decided to withdraw cases registered against farmers in the farmer stir and upped the compensation for damage to cotton crop to Rs 17,000 per acre from Rs 12,000. However, the government is silent on the contentious issue of farm loans worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore. Nor has it decided the pension amount for old farmers.

    Cotton growers are the main recipients of relief declared by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. They suffered huge losses due to a pest attack on crops. Farm labourers, too, have benefited from the government largesse.

    Channi on Wednesday chaired a meeting of representatives of 32 farm unions represented by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and led by Punjab BKU (Rajewal Group) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal. Channi said the enhanced compensation would involve nearly Rs 200 crore in addition to the already approved Rs 416.18 crore.

    Channi also announced cancellation of all cases registered by the state police against farmers who protested against the Central farm laws within the state. The CM assured SKM representatives he would take up the matter with the Governor, who is also the administrator of Chandigarh, to withdraw cases against those who participated in a protest march towards Raj Bhawan. 

    “We reminded the CM that his party is yet to honour its promise to waive farm loans amounting to Rs 90,000 lakh crore due to arhtiyas, cooperative banks, and commercial banks. The CM has assured us he would call a separate meeting within a week,” Rajewal said. 

    Channi referred to the demand for a loan waiver for small, marginal and landless farmers, saying he would meet their representatives after a detailed briefing by the finance department. He said that 5.63 lakh farmers have benefitted from the earlier loan waiver amounting to Rs 4,610.84 crore. Besides, Rs 520 crore have gone to landless farmers and farm workers.

  • Power tariff slashed by Rs 3 per unit in Punjab months ahead of assembly elections

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Cabinet on Monday decided to slash power tariff by Rs 3 per unit for domestic consumers, a move which comes just months ahead of the Assembly polls and will put a burden of Rs 3,316 crore per year on the exchequer.

    The announcement was made by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi after the Cabinet meeting.

    “We are reducing power tariff by Rs 3 per unit for domestic consumers,” said Channi addressing the media here.

    It is a “big Diwali gift” for people, he said, adding that the decision will come into effect immediately.

    He said according to a survey conducted by his government, people wanted quality and cheap power.

    Punjab is going to the Assembly polls early next year.

    [Live] Announcing a Historic Decision for the Welfare, Progress and Prosperity for the People of Punjab, during a Press Conference at Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh. https://t.co/vBmNaN5P6I
    — Charanjit S Channi (@CHARANJITCHANNI) November 1, 2021

  • Centre must take effective measures to ensure safety of J&K residents: Punjab CM

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday condemned the recent killing of civilians by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and urged the Centre to take effective measures to ensure the safety of the Union Territory’s residents.

    Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a number of killings of civilians in the last few days, with the latest on Thursday, when principal Supinder Kaur and teacher Deepak Chand were shot dead at point blank range inside a government school in Srinagar.

    On Tuesday, Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit, and a vendor, Virendra Paswan from Bihar, were killed by terrorists in Srinagar, and civilian, Mohammad Shafi Lone, in Bandipora.

    ​ALSO READ | Priyanka Gandhi condemns terrorist attacks on J&K civilians, urges govt to ensure safety of all

    Terrorists shot dead Majid Ahmad Gojri in Srinagar and Mohammad Shafi Dar at Batamaloo on Saturday.

    Channi expressed deep anguish over the gruesome killings of the principal and the teacher.

    The chief minister has urged the Centre to take effective measures to ensure protection and security of people there (Jammu and Kashmir) who are living under the atmosphere of uncertainty due to constant threat and fear from various terrorist outfits, according to an official statement.

    Channi also emphasised the need to immediately repose a sense of security amongst the minorities in Jammu and Kashmir.

    ​ALSO READ | Will smoke perpetrators out, hold them accountable: Naqvi as militants target civilians in J&K

    Severe punishment according to the law should be given to those who have perpetrated this heinous crime against humanity to destroy the ethos of peace, harmony and brotherhood, he said, referring to the Thursday killings.

    Channi said that severe punishment will act as a deterrent for others and they will not dare to repeat such ghastly acts, which should be condemned in the strongest possible words by one and all.

    The chief minister also requested Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to direct the administration to extend all possible help to the grieving families in these difficult times.