Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday gave the formal approval for the transformation of the historic town of Malerkotla as the State’s 23rd district, as earlier announced by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The Cabinet also gave go-ahead for upgrading Sub-Tehsil Amargarh, which was a part of Malerkotla Sub-Division, as Sub-Division or Tehsil.
With this, Malerkotla district would now consist of three Sub-divisions — Malerkotla, Ahmedgarh, and Amargarh. As many as 192 villages, 62 patwar circles, and six Kanungo circles will be included in Malerkotla district.
The Cabinet authorised the Chief Minister to approve the creation of new posts for offices of 12 departments — Police, Rural Development and Panchayats, Social Justice and Minorities, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Social Security and Women and Child Development, Health, Education (Primary and Secondary), Social Security, Employment Generation, Industry and Commerce, Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs and Finance.
The Chief Minister had, on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr on May 14, announced the decision to make Malerkotla a full-fledged district, fulfilling the long-standing demand of the local people.
Besides promoting the convenience of residents, the decision has been taken in the larger public interest to ensure holistic urban development of Malerkotla, perpetuation of the rich heritage of this historic city, and overall socio-economic development of the region.
First-of-its-kind SPV to ensure potable water supply on long-term sustainable basis in Punjab’s rural areas
To ensure supply of potable water on a long-term sustainable basis in rural areas of water quality affected districts, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday gave approval for the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for Operations and Maintenance of large multi-village surface water supply schemes across the State.
The first-of-its-kind in India SPV will be a utility company ‘Punjab Rural Water (Utility) Company’, under the Water Supply and Sanitation Department.
The Cabinet, during its virtual meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, also accorded approval to open an account in the SPV’s name, with seed money of Rs 25 crore allocated from the World Bank funds (64 percent) and State Budget (36 percent), to support its functioning in the initial five years of operations.
The allocation will help meet the shortfall in revenue collection, if any, to fulfill the contractual obligations of the SPV and its administrative expenses.
The Cabinet also authorised the Chief Minister, as chairperson of the State Water Supply and Sanitation Mission, to approve, on behalf of the Council of Ministers, any amendments in the structure, role, and responsibilities, funding pattern etc which may be required in the future.
The Water Supply and Sanitation Department is currently in the process of executing five new multi-village surface water supply projects covering 612 villages of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Gurdaspur districts, and another project covering 408 villages in the fluoride-affected blocks of districts Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib. These projects are under construction.
Another project, covering 39 villages of Rupnagar district (Nurpur Bedi block) affected by Iron or Arsenic, was commissioned in 2019. Besides, a project in Moga district, based on Design, Build Operate and Transfer (DBOT) model, was completed by M/s L&T Limited in January 2021 with a total expenditure of Rs 218.56 crore, benefitting 85 villages and creating a positive impact on the lives of 3.64 lakh people.
The SPV shall institutionalize mechanisms and SOPs for timely billing and collection to the contractor(s) for bulk water usage and provide social, institutional, and technical support to the Gram Panchayat Water Supply Committees (GPWSCs), Cluster Level Committees (CLCs), and Scheme Level Committees (SLCs).
Further, management of day-to-day operations, including water quality monitoring, management of water meters, supervision of control room operations, will fall within the purview.
This institutional arrangement is proposed to enable a more efficient and effective running of the large-scale surface water scheme(s).
The SPV is envisaged as a thin utility in the Multi Village Scheme, in the domain of finance (managing connections, promoting new commercial and industrial connections, meter reading, billing, collection, online payment gateway services, financial accounting, and management, tariff assessment, statutory compliance), communications and customer service (grievance redressal, IEC activities, training, and capacity building, branding and marketing), technical (monitoring of water quality, maintenance of intra-village assets, monitoring, and inspection of O&M contractors, supports Gram Panchayat Water Supply Committees (GPWSCs), Cluster Level Committees (CLCs) and Scheme Level Committees (SLCs), promoting energy efficiency, coordinating with all stakeholders) and support for database and knowledge management, generation, and reporting of regular MIS.