Various departments of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Punjab Government, over the past couple of days, have been sharing its achievements and new initiatives at the end of the year. As a part of the same series, the state’s Youth Services, Defence Services Welfare, Revenue, and the Jails Departments shared its report card on Friday.
Putting in sincere efforts to make Punjab a leading state in sports again, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led State Government, in its 10-month tenure, launched ‘Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan’ and ‘Olympian Balbir Singh Scholarship Scheme’, besides resuming youth award named after Shaheed-e Azam Bhagat Singh.
To restore the state’s lost glory in the field of sports, the Government has enhanced the sports budget for the year 2022-23 by 38.14 per cent compared to the previous year in a first groundbreaking step taken by the AAP government. A total budget of Rs 229 crore was allocated.
Among several initiatives towards this direction, the Department organized ‘Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan-2022’ from the block to the state level. “For the first time in Punjab, online registration of players was conducted in these Games. About three lakh players participated in 29 sports, while the number of players in the previous games did not exceed 20,000,” said the state Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Friday.
Prize money of Rs 6.85 crore was distributed to 9,961 winning players to encourage budding players to enthusiastically participate in sports and stay away from drug menace, he said.
Hayer said that in this year's Commonwealth Games held at Birmingham, 19 players from Punjab won three silver and four bronze medals in hockey, cricket, and weightlifting. Apart from this, four players participated in judo, cycling, and athletics. “Total 23 Punjabi sportsmen were honoured by the Chief Minister with total prize money of Rs 9.30 crore. The first-time cash prize money was given to the players who participated in the Games,” he said.
The government also launched a scholarship scheme in the name of Hockey Olympian Balbir Singh Senior to encourage the state’s budding players. Under this scheme, a budget provision of Rs 12.50 crore has been made under which any medal winning player in senior national competitions will be given a stipend of Rs 8000 per month and Rs 6000 per month to the winning player in Junior National competitions for one year.
A committee of sports experts has also been formed to make an effective sports policy to raise the level of sports in Punjab, give honour to the players, give jobs and draw long-term plans, based on the report of which the policy will be implemented, said the Minister.
Ex-Gratia to Martyr's Kin Doubled to Rs 1 cr; Govt Paid Over Rs 3-cr to NoK
Taking several landmark decisions for the welfare of next of kin (NoK) of soldiers, AAP Government, immediately after coming to power in the state, had enhanced rates of ex-gratia grant given to the families of martyred soldiers from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore. “The Department has made a payment of Rs 3,09,40,000 to the next of kin of martyrs during the period from April 1, 2022, to till date,” said the state Defence Services Welfare Minister Fauja Singh Sarari.
“The Government has been providing financial assistance of Rs one lakh to family of Armed Forces personnel who die in harness (other than Battle Casualty) under Armed Forces Flag Day fund. An amount of Rs 26 lakh has been paid to families of Armed Forces personnel during the period from April 1, 2022, to till date,” he said.
Revenue Dept Records Boom in Income
AAP Government on Friday claimed that the state Revenue Department recorded a boom in the income in its 10-month tenure. “From April to November, 21 percent more revenue has come into the Government coffers from land and property registries than the previous year,” said the state Revenue Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa. He said that from April 1 to November 30, 2022, an income of Rs 2,525.72 crore has come to the treasury under stamp and registration, which is 21 percent more than these eight months of the previous year. During this period, in 2021, this income was Rs 2,088.60 crore.
Govt Turning Jails a Reform House
Making continuous efforts to make the state crime-free, the State Government has taken a first step in the direction by turning the state’s jails into reform houses. “Random checking is being done continuously to make the state’s prisons free from drugs and mobile phones,” said a government spokesperson. He said that strict action has been taken against the employees of the Prison Department who are delivering drugs and mobile phones in the Jail. During the checking so far, 4,716 mobile phones have been seized from the prisoners which is the highest number in the past years.
Prisoners who maintain good conduct in prisons can now meet their family members physically also by registering under the ‘Family Visits; project, started on September 15, 2022, to motivate prisoners to shun path of crime and for their re-integration with their families. Since then, 7497 such family visits have taken place across the prisons of the State of Punjab. In a first in the country, approximately 30,000 prisoners lodged in various prisons were screened for drug abuse. Also, survey of all addict prisoners has been conducted.
AAP Reversed State's Growth in 10-Month Regime: Bajwa
Senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa, appraising the Aam Aadmi Party-led State Government’s performance at the end of the year on Friday, said that despite tall claims, AAP remained unsuccessful to govern at multiple spheres so far. “In reality, AAP Government, in its 10-month rule, has put the state's progress in reverse gear with ill-conceived policies, wrong choices, and utterly lax attitude of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann,” he said.
Bajwa said that the AAP Government terribly failed to deliver its assurances, given before and after the elections. “It could neither uplift the state’s economic condition, which has already been in limbo, nor could it improve the deteriorating law and order situation of Punjab,” he said.
“The experts have anticipated that Punjab’s debt would cross Rs three lakh crore by the end of this financial year, whereas the both Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann made lofty claims before the assembly elections to generate revenue from various sources,” he added.
Bajwa said that before Punjab assembly elections in February 2022, Kejriwal had assured that he would shut down illegal sand mining, which would consequently generate Rs 20,000 crores in revenue that would benefit the people. He made similar claims to improve state’s financial situation by ending corruption, he pointed adding that all his promises and guarantees have evidently been in vain and in the span of just 10 months, state’s economy has been in a shamble.
“The law and order situation has collapsed completely. Gun-related crimes are on the rise. Right after AAP formed the government, international kabaddi player Sandeep Singh Nangal Ambian was shot dead by the gangsters. His wife is still running from pillar to post to get justice. Acclaimed rapper and singer Subhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala’s brutal murder shocked every Punjabi across the globe. His parents were planning to leave the state due to the laxity of AAP government to get the matter probed properly,” he said adding that there have been RPG attacks on the Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali and on a Police station in Tarn Taran, which had never happened in Punjab.
AAP Govt Created State of Lawlessness, Communal Tensions; Worst Year for Punjab: Sukhbir
Expressing shock over Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s claim that AAP model on law and order was now number one in the country, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday said: “It is shameful that an elected chief minister is outrightly lying on such a sensitive issue at a time when Punjabis are plagued by law of jungle and breakdown of communal relations.”
Expressing anguish at the cheap self-publicity unleashed by the AAP Government to project itself as the number one state on the law and order front, Sukhbir said that Punjabis expected Mann to apologize for failing them on this front and resign as Home Minister. “It is despicable that he is now teaming up with AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to showcase maintenance of law and order as an achievement of his government when he created a state of lawlessness. This is an insult to Punjab and Punjabis”, he asserted while calling it the worst year for Punjab on the administrative front.
Sukhbir reminded Mann that right after formation of AAP Government, the State witnessed a spate of killings of prominent Kabaddi players including Nangal Ambian. “Punjab also witnessed the gruesome murder of iconic singer Sidhu Moosewala after government withdrew his security and publicized this fact. There was an RPG attack first on the Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali and later at a police station in Sarhali. State also witnessed communal tensions after decades in Kali Mandir clashes in Patiala. Gangsters continued to strike at will with one of Moosewala’s killers Deepak Tinu even escaping from police custody. The common man was afflicted by snatchings and robberies even as traders and industrialists were targeted and killed for failing to pay ransoms to gangsters,” he said, asking Mann if all this was an achievement of his government.
Saying that Chief Minister Mann is also responsible for bringing financial ruin to the State, Sukhbir said that the problem lies in how Mann had succumbed to Arvind Kejriwal and handed over all powers to the latter in the name of a fake knowledge sharing agreement. He alleged that Kejriwal’s lieutenants are ruling Punjab by proxy.
