CM MOURNS DEATH OF COMMUTERS IN A ROAD MISHAP NEAR BATHINDA
ANNOUNCES EX-GRATIA OF RS 3 LAKH FOR NEXT OF THE KIN OF DECEASED
Chandigarh, December 28:Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday expressed deep shock and anguish over death of commuters in a tragic road accident near Bathinda after a private bus fell into the drain.
Expressing profound grief and sorrow over this disastrous accident, the Chief Minister shared his heartfelt sympathies with the members of the bereaved families and prayed to the Almighty to give them courage to bear this irreparable loss in the hour of crisis and grant peace to the departed souls. Meanwhile, Bhagwant Singh Mann also announced an Ex Gratia grant of Rs. 3 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. He had already directed district administration to provide free treatment to all the injured.
============================
As of 2024, 12,809 acres of Panchayati land have been cleared of illegal encroachments, stated Tarunpreet Singh Sond
- During Gram Panchayat elections, 3,044 panchayats were elected unanimously.
- Rs.983.98 crore was spent under the MGNREGA scheme, generating 2.15 crore person-days of employment
- Across Punjab, 114 rural libraries are operational, and 179 are under development
Chandigarh, December 28:Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats achieved several significant milestones in 2024. Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond stated that since the campaign to remove illegal encroachments on Panchayati land began in 2022, 12,809 acres of land have been reclaimed and handed over to panchayats by 2024. The market value of this reclaimed land exceeds Rs. 3,080 crore. Out of this, approximately 6,000 acres have been leased, generating an annual income of Rs. 10.76 crore during 2024-25.
Additionally, during 2024-25, the department auctioned 1.36 lakh acres of Shamlat land for Rs. 469 crore. Similarly, revenue of Rs. 93.90 crore was generated by leasing livestock markets through e-auctions.
Tarunpreet Singh Sond mentioned that realizing Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s vision of establishing libraries in villages, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats initiated the Rural Library Scheme from the village of Issru (Khanna) in 2024. The Chief Minister inaugurated the first library on August 15 and interacted with school children. Currently, 114 rural libraries are functional across Punjab, and 179 are in progress.
To strengthen democracy, panchayat elections were conducted in 2024. Sond also revealed that 3,044 panchayats were elected unanimously during these elections, and as per the Chief Minister’s announcement, financial assistance will be provided for welfare initiatives in these panchayats.
The department also facilitated financial assistance for self-help groups by enabling them to secure loans worth Rs. 94.35 crore from banks. Similarly, under the MGNREGA scheme, Rs. 983.98 crore has been spent during the 2024-25 financial year, generating 2.15 crore person-days of employment. An average of 7.02 lakh rural families have been provided employment under the scheme this year. Additionally, the department planted a total of 95.03 lakh saplings in 2024. Moreover, 2,461 sports grounds have been completed, and work on 1,623 grounds is underway.
The Rural Development and Panchayats Minister shared that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), 5,166 houses have been constructed this financial year, with a total expenditure of Rs. 62 crore. He expressed optimism that by the end of the financial year, 18,000 houses, costing Rs. 220 crore, will be completed. In 2025-26, an additional 25,000 houses will be constructed. To identify new beneficiaries, a fresh survey has been underway since November 1, 2024, with dedicated surveyors deployed in each village.
Furthermore, various initiatives are being undertaken to enhance the aesthetics of villages and manage solid and liquid waste effectively.
========================================
PUNJAB CULTIVATES PROSPERITY WITH NEW INITIATIVES IN AGRICULTURE
* Punjab continues lead the country in paying the highest price of Rs.401 per quintal for Sugarcane
•Over 48.8% area increased under DSR during Kharif 2024; Rs. 1500 financial assistance being provided for adopting water saving technique
•14% area increased under Basmati cultivation
Chandigarh, December 28:With an aim to make the agricultural sector more prosperous and increase the income hard working farmers of the state, Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government has taken various path-breaking initiatives including highest rate of sugarcane, subsidy on hybrid maize seeds, financial assistance for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), free-electricity to farmers for agri-pumps, besides, encouraging farmers to adopt crop diversification.
Highlighting the achievements of the Agriculture department, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian informed that the state has maintained the lead across the country in paying the highest price of Rs.401 per quintal for Sugarcane. Punjab Government has recently hiked Rs.10 in the state-agreed price (SAP) of sugarcane, increasing the rate to Rs 401 per quintal for the 2024-25 crushing season. Payment of cooperative sugar mills has been cleared by Punjab Govt for the crushing year 2023-24. These steps lead to increases the area of sugarcane by 5000 hectares during 2024-25.
He further informed that the Punjab Government has been providing financial assistance of Rs. 1500/- per acre to the farmers, who have adopted the Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technique to arrest the depleting ground-water. This initiative of the government has received a good response from the farmers. During Kharif season-2024, a total of 2.53 lakh acres area cultivated under DSR as compared to 1.70 lakh acres during kharif season-2023 which is 48.8% more than the last year. The Agriculture department had provided Rs. 20.05 crore financial assistance to 17,112 farmers during 2023.
The Agriculture Minister said that the Punjab Government has continued free electricity facility to the farmers for their tubewells and Rs.9331 crore allocated for this purpose during 2024-25.
S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that the state government’s crop diversification campaign got a major push as Punjab witnessed at least a 14 percent increase in area under Basmati cultivation. During this Kharif Season, Basmati has been sown in 6.80 lakh hectares, which was 5.96 lakh hectares in the year 2023. Punjab Government has also banned 10 agriculture pesticides used on Basmati to enable farmers to produce international standard Basmati. A Basmati Extension-Research Centre and a residue testing laboratory is being established in coordination with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which will give a boost to Punjab's basmati exports.
Punjab has also managed to increase the area under maize from 0.94 lakh hectares in last year to 0.98 lakh hectares during the Kharif season-2024. The state has provided subsidy on hybrid varieties of maize seeds certified and recommended by PAU, Ludhiana at Rs 100 per kg and Rs 2.30 crore was reserved for the purpose. Apart from this, maize exhibitions were also set up in an area of 3500 hectares in the state, for which maize seeds and other inputs like fertilisers, pesticides etc. were given as assistance to the farmers at the rate of Rs.6000/- per hectare, he added.
The Agriculture Minister further added that the state government has provided 80% subsidy to farmer groups/gram panchayats/FPOs and 50% subsidy to individual farmers for Crop Residue Management (CRM) machines. During FY 2024-25 a total of 16,000 machines have been provided for stubble management. As a result, the number of paddy stubble fire incidents has reduced from 36,663 fire incidents during 2023 to 10,909 during 2024 at a tune of 70%.
----------
PUNJAB POLICE SOLVES GRENADE ATTACK AT ISLAMABAD POLICE STATION; TWO MEMBERS OF NARCO-TERROR MODULE HELD
— POLICE TEAMS ALSO RECOVER 1.4KG HEROIN, ONE HAND GRENADE, TWO SOPHISTICATED PISTOLS FROM THEIR POSSESSION
— ARRESTED ACCUSED PERSONS WERE BEING HANDLED BY FOREIGN-BASED PERSONS, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV
— EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE TO NAB THE REMAINING MEMBERS OF THIS MODULE: AIG SSOC SUKHMINDER SINGH MANN
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, December 28:In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police’s State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) Amritsar has busted a narco-terror module being operated by foreign-based handlers with the arrest of its two members, who also confessed to have lobbed a hand-grenade at the Islamabad Police Station in Amritsar, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurjeet Singh, a resident of Dande in Gharinda, Amritsar and Baljit Singh, a resident of Chhapa in Tarn Taran. Police teams have also recovered 1.4 kg heroin, one hand grenade and two sophisticated pistols— one 9MM Zigana and one 9MM Glock— along with ammunition from their possession.
The development came in little more than 10 days after the incident reported at Islamabad Police Station at around 3 am on December 17, 2024. Few hours after the incident, Foreign-based Jeevan Fauji, who is associated with the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), had used social media platform to claim the responsibility for this act of terror.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that SSOC Amritsar had received a secret information that a USA-based hardcore drug smuggler Sandeep Singh alias Seepu is running a smuggling network and getting consignments of drugs and weapons from Pakistan to supply them in India through his associates. Acting swiftly on inputs, the teams of SSOC Amritsar arrested one associate identified as Gurjeet Singh and recovered 1.4 kg heroin from his possession, he said.
The DGP said that the meticulous investigations and sustained follow-up of backward and forward linkages in the arrest of Gurjeet Singh revealed that the latter along with his accomplice Baljit Singh has also carried out grenade attack at Police Station Islamabad on the instructions of a foreign-based person, introduced to him by Sandeep Seepu.
He said that further investigations are ongoing to ascertain the terrorist organisation behind the attack at Police Station and identify the foreign based person introduced by Seepu.
Sharing more details, AIG SSOC Amritsar Sukhminder Singh Mann said that the police teams have also arrested Baljit Singh and during further investigations one hand grenade and two pistols along with ammunition were recovered from duo.
He said that further investigations are being conducted to unearth this entire network and efforts are being made to track the previous consignments transported by the accused.
In this regard, a fresh case FIR No. 74 dated 26.12.2024 has been registered under sections 21, 23-c and 29 of the NDPS Act, section 25 of the Arms Act and sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Act at Police Station SSOC Amritsar.