Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said the state government will construct 16 new Medical colleges in the state n the next five years, taking the total tally of medical colleges to 25 and transforming the state into a hub of medical education.
Chairing a meeting to review the status of upcoming five new Medical colleges at Sangrur, SAS Nagar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Malerkotla, Mann said that the state has a glorious legacy of producing world class doctors across the globe and even today a large number of students pursue medical education to become qualified doctors from here. Lamenting that none of the successive governments in the state have focused on establishing quality Medical colleges in Punjab. Bhagwant Mann said that as a result of this a large number of students have to go abroad for getting medical education.
He envisioned that the students aspiring to pursue medical education will no longer have to go to countries like Ukraine. On the contrary, the Chief Minister said that these students will be provided quality medical education in these medical colleges. Dwelling on the agenda Mann ordered that process of creating posts for medical college Sangrur must be completed at the earliest. He also asked PWD to ensure quality work and adhering to timelines adding that broad timelines should be made by all concerned to ensure timely start of the admission in next session.
For upcoming Medical college at SAS Nagar, Mohali, Mann ordered priority construction of additional hospital and hostels as required for next year should be expedited with proper adherence to timelines. Likewise, he asked the PWD department to expedite process of floating tenders for upgradation and construction work on Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur medical colleges.
He also directed the department to immediately start process of initiating work on Medical College Malerkotla.
ONE MLA, ONE PENSION TO REVOLUTIONISE POLITICAL SYSTEM, SAYS MANN
Punjab government has issued a notification giving pension to former MLAs only for one term following an assent by the Punjab governor to a Bill in this regard. The Punjab Assembly had passed the Punjab State Legislature Members (Pension and Medical Facilities Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2022 on June 30.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in a tweet on Saturday said, ''I am very happy to inform Punjabis that the Governor has given his assent to One MLA-One Pension Bill. The government has issued a notification.'' The state government is expected to save around Rs 19.53 crore annually through the move.
He said that the notification implementing 'One MLA one pension' in Punjab will revolutionize and reform the Indian political system. " It is a humble initiative by the Aam Aadmi party government to realise the dreams of our freedom fighters and national heroes", he said.
In a statement, Mann said that politics is service of people adding that while doing it there is no need for the huge pensions for the MLAs and that too for every term.