Punjab Government is honouring the efforts put in by the ex-servicemen in its unique way this Independence Day. Come August 15, the Congress Government is launching its much-hyped scheme — Guardians of Governance — where the ex-servicemen will monitor the utilisation of funds.
Starting up with eight districts in the first phase of implementing the scheme, the Government is targeting to cover all 22 districts by January next year. For the purpose, a provision of Rs 20 crore has been made in the budget for the current fiscal.
The scheme would be launched by CM Capt Amarinder Singh, and August 15 was strategically selected for the same. With the implementation of the scheme, the State Government would fulfil its another pre-poll promise.
To begin with, the scheme will be implemented in Patiala, ludhiana and six border districts of the State, including Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur.
As of now, the Punjab Ex-Servicemen Cooperation (PESCO) is holding training camps to sensitise the ex-servicemen about the ‘Guardian of Governance’ scheme as well as various welfare schemes.
A senior Government official told The Pioneer that the scheme was receiving impressive response from the ex-servicemen. “So far, we have received more than 8,000 applications. Two retired Generals and a Brigadier have also applied under the scheme to serve as the Guardians of Governance in their respective villages,” added the official.
The official said the scheme was aimed at ensuring transparency in the utilisation of the grants and proper implantation of the welfare schemes in the villages.
“This would help in proper utilisation of funds as it has been seen in the past that the benefits don’t reach the real beneficiaries thus defeating the entire purpose of running these schemes,” said the official, adding that it would weed out the corruption.
The official said the applicant ex-servicemen would be given two-week training, followed by training workshops at the various levels - village, tehsil and district.
The Directorate of Defence Services Welfare has invited applications from the interested retired army-men for as many as 334 posts including 2 for District GG, 104 for Assistant GG at district level or Tehsil GG, and 208 for district or tehsil supervisor GG.
“For district GG, the colonel or lieutenant colonel or the equivalent post would be considered. For assistant GG, major, captain, or lieutenant level officer or above and equivalent will be appointed, while for District or Tehsil Supervisor, qualification will be junior commissioned officers (JCOs) or non-commissioned officers (NCOs) or equivalent,” said the official.
As per one of the conditions for appointment, the applicants have to possess a smart phone having android software and internet facility.
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