Punjab will appoint independent Third Party Auditors for assessment of various development and infrastructure projects being executed by different departments under Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government lands (OUVGl) scheme of the State, Sarvesh Kaushal, Chief Secretary, Punjab said.
He was reviewing the financial and physical progress of various development & Infrastructure projects of the State, in the Empowered Committee of OUVGl scheme.
Punjab Government had formulated the OUVGl Scheme in 1997 under which vacant, unencumbered and surplus lands of various Government departments were transferred to PUDA in the revenue records. PUDA was declared the nodal agency for commercial exploitation of such lands.
Reviewing the status of construction of jails in Bathinda, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Amritsar, Chief Secretary asked PWD to complete the construction work within 2 weeks and handover the sites to Department of Jails. These 3 jails are being constructed with overall cost of `443 crore by PWD (B&R). After taking over the possession, Jails department will get the finishing work, CCTV installation and necessary works completed in a month.
On the progress of construction of Excise & Taxation department office in Jalandhar with cost estimate of `8.21 crore and buildings in Gandhi Vaneeta Ashram in Jalandhar with cost of `22.52 crore, Chief Secretary directed all the departments to deliver the projects on time and avoid any cost-overruns. He also directed Additional Chief Secretary to issue a circular to all departments that any cost-overrun in the projects should be approved by the competent authority in the administrative department.
New projects which were approved by the Empowered Committee to be undertaken in the OUVGl scheme included construction of Special Saanjh Kendra in Patiala, development works in Tarntaran District with cost estimate of `3 crore, construction of police station in Tarntaran with cost estimate of `2 crore, construction of meritorious school in Gurdaspur with cost estimate of `13.43 crore.
Reviewing the construction of PWD guest houses, Chief Secretary asked PWD to improve the maintenance of the existing guest houses. Further the in- principle approval was also given to allocate `50 crore for the construction of houses of field officers including ADCs, SDMs, Tehsildars & Naib Tehsildars.
Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue presented a detailed report on standardisation of specification of various administrative complexes being constructed across the State. The standardised components included Civil Works, roofing, joinery, flooring, finishing, false ceiling, electrical services, water supply/sewerage etc.
Other important decisions taken in the meeting included transfer of 2.16 acres of land to Punjab Building and other Construction Welfare Board for construction of Skill Development center, disbursement of funds for construction of building of C-Pyte (Center for Training and Employment of Punjab Youth) with cost estimate of Rs7.64 crores.
The Chief Secretary directed all the departments to complete the construction of the projects on time and as per the best quality standards. He also directed PUDA to appoint third party auditors for monitoring the quality of completed and ongoing works.