Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday personally supervised a government drive to take possession of 2,828 acres of illegally encroached prime land worth Rs 350 crore in Majri block of SAS Nagar (Mohali) district from 15 “influential” encroachers, including the son of the newly-elected MP from Sangrur Simranjit Singh Mann, and former Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar.
The Chief Minister, who led the campaign himself to take possession of land in Chotti Badi Naggal village, said that this prime land is situated in the foothills and has been illegally occupied by several influential officers and politicians since long.
The illegal occupants included Imaan Jit Singh Mann, the son of Sangrur MP and SAD (Amritsar-Mann) president Simranjit Singh Mann, who had encroached 125 acres of land. Mann’s daughter and son-in-law had also occupied 28 acres of prime land illegally. Besides, former Power Minister and now BJP leader Gurpreet Singh Kangar’s son Harmandeep Singh Dhaliwal had also encroached five acres of land.
Giving details of the encroachers, the Chief Minister said that 1100 acres of land have been encroached by Fauja Singh, who runs an infrastructure company. Other encroachers include Imaan Singh Mann (125 acre), Akur Dhawan (103 acre), Jatinder Singh Dua and Pukhraj Singh Dua (40 acre), Prabhdeep Singh Sandhu, Gobind Singh Sandhu and Nanki Kaur (28 acre), Ripudaman Singh (25 acre), Navdeep Kaur (15 acre), Deepak Bansal (12 acre), KF Farms (11 acre), Tejvir Singh Dhillon (10 acre), Inderjit Singh Dhillon (8 acre), Deepinder Pal Chahal (8 acre), Sandeep Bansal (6 acre), Harmandeep Singh Dhaliwal (5 acre), Manjit Singh Dhanoa (5 acre) and Rita Sharma (4 acre).
“Starting from May 1 this year, the State Government has, so far, taken possession of 9,053 acres of prime land which had been illegally encroached by the people. It is a part of poll guarantee of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as during campaigning, we had promised people that all the influential illegal encroachers, who have plundered the wealth mercilessly, will be brought to book,” he said.
Taking the opposition to cudgels, Mann said that these parties have always mocked him by raising questions that from where will the funds from all his promises come, and “I always asserted that the funds will come from foothills of Shivaliks, only after the prime land under their possession will be freed”.
He said that out of these 2,828 acre, 265 acre land is plain area whereas 2,563 acre is hilly. Abundance of “costly” Khair trees, worth Rs 50 crores, have also been planted in this land.
“Only the influential people who have occupied the land illegally are being removed,” he said, adding that no tiller of land or poor person, who is living here or earning his bread from this place, is being displaced.
The Chief Minister complimented the Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal for spearheading this campaign. He unequivocally said that this campaign will continue till the entire government land is freed from the encroachers.
Mann also announced that a detailed enquiry has been ordered to ascertain how these encroachers had occupied this land adding that the officers who have connived with these encroachers will also be brought to book.
Haryana Roadways to offer free bus rides to women on Raksha Bandhan
Chandigarh: Haryana Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma on Friday said state roadways buses will offer free rides to women on Raksha Bandhan on August 11. The minister said women, and children up to 15 years can avail the free travel facility from 12 noon on August 10 to August 11 on all ''ordinary'' buses of Haryana Roadways. Sharma said the free bus rides on Raksha Bandhan were being offered for the last several years, but had to be halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.After a significant improvement in the Covid situation, it has been decided to resume this facility, he said.
Haryana CM launches finance department bulletin
Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday launched the Finance Department Bulletin, which is a handbook that contains instructions and notifications issued by the department from time to time. The objective of this handbook is to facilitate the day-to-day working of all departments of the State Government and also to give them a reference point to assess their performance across various indicators of Sustainable Development Goals. Further, the data related to the State budget allocation as well as the performance of Districts and Departments across various indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals is also included in the book. On this occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Ministers and senior officials of the State Government were present.
Khanna Trauma Center to be named after Bhagat Puran Singh
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave the nod for naming Trauma Center in Khanna Civil Hospital in the name of renowned humanitarian Bhagat Puran Singh. “It is a humble tribute to noted philanthropist Bhagat Puran Singh Ji, who dedicated his entire life for the well being of destitute and needy people. Throughout his life, Bhagat ji selflessly served the underprivileged and weaker sections...His service to humanity is a source of inspiration for all,” said Mann, adding that in recognition to this unparalleled service, Punjab Government has decided to name the Trauma Center running in Civil Hospital, Khanna, after Padam Sri Bhagat Puran Singh Ji.
Take up Chandigarh issue with Shah during his visit: SAD to Mann
Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday demanded that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should register a written protest with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was visiting tricity on July 30, on his statement to hand over land to Haryana for separate Assembly in Chandigarh. “It is an appropriate opportunity for Punjab Chief Minister to register written protest with Shah demanding withdrawal of his statement on allotment of land to Haryana for construction of separate state Assembly,” said SAD senior leader and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema. Similarly, Mann should also withdraw his own statement, which he had given on the instructions of AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanding land for Punjab also, said Cheema adding that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and one cannot demand a plot in a land which belongs to himself. SAD leader also said that Akali Dal has already registered written protest in form of memorandum submitted to Punjab Governor by delegation led by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. “SAD is committed for this cause and will not allow the Union Government to hand over this land to Haryana but the AAP Government of Punjab should not keep on betraying the people of the state,” he said.
Haryana Cong to hold day-long 'Chintan Shivir' in Panchkula on Aug 1
Chandigarh: Haryana Congress will hold a day-long 'Chintan Shivir' in Panchkula on August 1 to discuss the strategy to reach out to people over ''burning issues'' including inflation, unemployment and ''misuse'' of probe agencies by the Centre. In the brainstorming session, the party will also chalk out details regarding a padyatra (foot march) in every district of the state from August 9 to 15 as part of the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, said a senior Haryana Congress leader. Leader of Opposition, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee working presidents, party MPs, MLAs from Haryana, former MPs and ex-legislators from the state, AICC office bearers AICC Secretary, CWC members from state, party candidates who contested previous Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls are among those who have been invited to attend the event.
Ex-MLA Urmil Thakur, 3 others rejoin BJP in Himachal
Shimla:Former BJP MLA Urmil Thakur, late minister Narinder Bragta’s son Chetan Bragta and AAP leaders Rakesh Chaudhary and Joginder Panku have joined the ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh. All four of these political leaders have earlier been associated with the saffron party. Thakur was elected as a member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Hamirpur in 1998 and 2007 on a BJP ticket. She later joined the Congress after being denied a party ticket. Chetan Bragta, who was the state BJP IT cell convener, was expecting a party ticket from Jubbal-Kotkhai in the bypoll held in October last year after former minister and his father Narinder Bragta’s death due to Covid complications. However, the party chose former zila parishad member Neelam Seraik. Similarly, Rakesh Chaudhary was an aspirant of BJP ticket from Dharamshala in 2019 bypoll, but he contested as an independent in the absence of the ticket. He later joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In the same way, a zila parishad member from Shahpur, Joginder Panku joined the AAP after leaving BJP a few months ago. All the four new entrants were welcomed to the party fold by BJP state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna and state president Suresh Kashyap.
IAS officer Hussan Lal given warm send off on his superannuation
Chandigarh: Senior Punjab IAS officer Hussan Lal, who is retiring on July 31, was given a warm send off by the Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua and Punjab IAS Officers Association here on Friday at Punjab Civil Secretariat. During a ceremony, office-bearers of Punjab IAS Officers Association wished the 1995 batch IAS officer Hussan Lal, currently serving as Principal Secretary Medical Education & Research and Printing Stationery department, a healthy and prosperous post retirement life. Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua, President IAS Officers Association A Venu Prasad, KAP Sinha, Raji P Shrivastava, Vikas Pratap, Tejveer Singh, Jaspreet Talwar, Dilip Kumar, Rahul Bhandari, VK Meena, Ajoy Sharma, Alaknanda Dayal and Girish Dayalan shared their experiences with the retiring officer. They said that Hussan Lal had cordial relations with all of them and they learnt a lot from the friendly working style of the superannuating Officer. They lauded his spectacular service specially during Covid-19 pandemic time as Principal Secretary.
First-of-its-kind centre of excellence for onion to come up in Sangrur
Chandigarh: Punjab Government will set up a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence for Onion at Kheri village in Sangrur district. This would be the third centre of excellence to be established in sync with the Indo-Dutch agreement in Punjab, said the state Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari on Friday. The Minister, presiding over a meeting with PUM Expert from Netherlands Tjaart Hoffmanpum and Punjab Horticulture Director Shailender Kaur, said that the Centre is aimed not only to make Punjab farmers introduce the latest technological and scientific advancements in the cultivation of onion but to break the traditional cycle of two-crop system, which has been resulting in depletion of the water table. “The State Government is focusing on increasing the farmers’ income by introducing new crops and latest technologies while simultaneously continuing the efforts to conserve the natural resources and save the environment,” he said. The Minister said that the Centre will focus on increasing the productivity of onions from 22 tons to 40 tons per hectare using Dutch interventions and reducing the loss in post-harvest by 30 per cent by using the latest storage technology of the Dutch.
