Chandigarh/Patiala, December 3:
Amid projections of vaccine likely to be available early next year, the Punjab Chief Secretary Ms. Vini Mahajan on Thursday directed the Deputy Commissioners to constitute advanced ground level teams to streamline and prioritize the process of COVID vaccination, besides maintaining the COVID RTPCR testing 30,000 per day in the state to thwart any likelihood of a second wave of infections.
Chairing a review meeting of Patiala Division today, the Chief Secretary also directed to speed up all the development works and schemes, earlier slowed down due to COVID situations, to complete them within the stipulated time.
She also asked the officers to complete toilets in the Government Schools and Anganwadis till the December end this year. The Chief Secretary was here to review the status of the ongoing development projects and 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.
She was apprised by the In-charge Administrative Secretaries of these districts about the status of ongoing development works in their respective districts.
Regarding 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 soon as possible.
While directing to clear the outstanding electricity bills of village water supply schemes and schools through Panchayats, the Chief Secretary asked the Deputy Commissioners to pay special attention in this regard. She said that the stray dogs should be sterilized at the Panchayat level to deal with the problem of stray dogs.
Ms. Vini Mahajan also asked the DCs to come up with concrete plans for the next Rabi 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 the 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 Mr. Kumar Amit said that the major development projects in the district including 24×7 canal based water supply projects at the cost of Rs. 500 crore, Construction of Academic block of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab State Sports University, Bus Stand Project at the cost of Rs. 61 crore, Heritage Street project (Rs 43 crore), Beautification project for Chhoti and Badi Nadi (Rs 200 crore), 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, BioRemediation of Garbage Dump at Sanour Road, allotment of 126 houses under Pradhan Mantri Sehri Awas Yojana also being done.
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Mr. 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 Ladhowal Bypass have been given top priority and are in progress.
Mr. 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 was also apprised 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 the media, later on, Ms. 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 contain the second possible wave of COVID, she said that Punjab has been adjudged among the top three districts of the country having most of the RT-PCR 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 facilities in the state and increased the capacity of public and private centers by 30 per cent.
Additional Chief Secretary-cum-FCR Mr. Viswajeet Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary NRI Affairs Mr. Kirpa Shankar Saroj, Secretary Personnel Mr. Vivek Pratap Singh and Commissioner Patiala Division Mr. Chandra Gaind and Additional Secretary Coordination-cum-Staff Officer to Chief Secretary Ms. Sakshi Sawhney were also present in the meeting.
