Chandigarh, Aug 2
CM ASKS GoI TO WITHDRAW GST LEVIED ON SARAIS IN VICINITY OF SRI DARBAR SAHIB, AMRITSAR
Chandigarh, August 2-
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The Chief Minister lamented that this decision of GoI is baseless and must be withdrawn without any delay.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.
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CM ANNOUNCES CASH PRIZE WORTH RS 40 LAKH FOR CWG MEDAL WINNER HARJINDER KAUR
REITERATES COMMITMENT TO GIVE FILLIP TO SPORTS IN THE STATE
CHANDIGARH, AUGUST 2-
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.
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Punjab meets highest demand for electricity during summer season
PSPCL supplied a record 14,207 MW of electricity against last year’s demand of 13,431 MW
Total electricity consumption of the state from March to July, 2022 stands at 31,505 MUs, 14.23 percent higher than last year’s consumption of 27,580 MUs
Chandigarh August 2:
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.
The Power Minister said that due to its concerted efforts, the State Government has secured additional provision of about 17 lakh metric tonnes of coal over and above the PSPCL linkage coal. The State Government also was able to secure an allocation of 1300 MW power from the Central Pool which has helped PSPCL in successfully meeting 24×7 demand of electricity during the paddy season without cutting power to any category of consumers. He said that during the current year PSPCL has made a banking arrangement of 3047 MW electricity which is 12.85 percent more than 2700 MW last year.
The Punjab Power Minister informed, that in view of the continuous high demand, PSPCL developed the strategy to adopt various demand side management (DSM) measures for the reactive power management to optimize resources. He said that in order to compensate for the reactive power requirement of the system, condenser mode of unit no. 3 of Ranjit Sagar Dam plant, which was not being used for many years, has now been made operational to compensate the 60 Mega Volt Amps Reactive (MVAR) requirement of reactive power in the system. Besides this, Mega Volt Amps Reactive MVAR capacity of the system has also been increased through a special drive by the addition of 341.61 Mega Volt Amps Reactive MVAR capacity with 251 units of capacitor banks at the grid sub stations and addition of shunt capacitors of required capacity at 11 KV feeders to improve the voltage profile of the system, he added.
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CEO Punjab holds a meeting with political parties for Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Roll – 2023
— Provision of four Qualifying dates – 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October has been introduced
— Collection of Aadhar number of registered electors through form 6B on voluntary basis initiated: CEO Punjab Dr Raju
Chandigarh, August 2:
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.
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Drinkable Canal Water to be supplied to 4 metros of the state, announces Local Bodies Minister
Orders to speedup Smart City projects at Sultanpur Lodhi to facilitate pilgrims
ADC UD and MC Commissioner authorised to pass building Maps except malls and housing colonies to facilitate people
Reviews ongoing development projects and implementation of welfare schemes in Kapurthala
Chandigarh/ Kapurthala, August 2:
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.
He also made it clear that construction of roads by laying bitumen during rain would be dealt as criminal activity and responsible officials would be held accountable for that.
He also announced that display Boards to be installed to ensure road quality mentioning length, name of contractor , concerned XEN and nodal agency which execute works with mobile numbers so that more transparency may be ensured in working.
Reviewing the 16 projects under Smart City Sultanpur Lodhi, the Minister has asked the officials to complete these projects on war footing as it would not only facilitate the pilgrims visiting the holy city but also to promote it as a favoured religious tourist destination.
He also ordered the Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils to start special drive to aware the people regarding discontinuing the use of single use plastic.
Besides that Helpline numbers and single window system should be set up in MCs to redress the grievances of people in stipulated time frame, he added.
The minister further said that it was decided to delegate the power to ADC Urban Developments and MC Commissioners to pass out the building maps except the maps of housing societies and commercial malls or multiplex’s to facilitate people.
Earlier a Punjab Police contingent presented a guard of honour to the cabinet minister in the presence of Deputy commissioner Mr. Vishesh sarangal and SSP Mr Navneet singh.
Deputy commissioner Mr Vishesh sarangal has assured the minister on behalf of all officials that the district administration will work with full dedication to meet target of development works and to ensure that the benefit of welfare schemes should reach out beneficiaries at grassroots level.
Prominent amongst others present on the occasion included ADC G Ajay Arora, ADC Phagwara Dr Nayan Jassal, ADC (D) SP Angra, ADC UD Anupam Kler , SDM Sultanpur Lodhi, SDM Kapurthala Hardeep Singh , AAP leader Manju Rana , Joginder singh Mann former minister , District president Nikita Sikhlani , Ranjit singh Rana , state secretary Gursharan singh Kapoor , state joint secretary Gurpal singh , Parvinder singh Dhot etc.
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