CM Mann holds meeting with the DC’s

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday held a high level meeting with the Deputy Commissioners from all the districts to review the implementation of the various citizen centric schemes in the state.

   Chairing a meeting with Deputy Commissioners here at the Punjab Bhawan, the Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over the fact that most of the districts were performing well in implementing the door to door scheme in the state. He said that this ambitious scheme aims at providing 43 citizen centric services to the people at their doorsteps. Bhagwant Singh Mann further asked the Deputy Commissioner to make sure that the scheme is implemented with missionary zeal to benefit the people.

    Dwelling on another agenda, the Chief Minister said that 664 Aam Aadmi Clinics are functional in the state and around 98 lakh patients have so far taken benefit from these clinics. He said that medicines worth Rs 40.50 crore have been provided free to patients along with lab tests worth Rs 5.77 crore that have been done free. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that 150 new clinics will be dedicated soon to the people of the state for which all the arrangements have been made adding he asked the Deputy Commissioners to make regular checkings in the clinics across the state.

    Similarly, the Chief Minister said that the state government has decided that all the medicines prescribed in the government hospitals will be made available to the Patients within its premises. He said that 276 medicines have already been included in the State Essential Drugs List at District Hospitals and Sub Divisional Hospitals. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that for procurement of medicines other than Essential Drug List (EDL) Standard Operating Procedure has been issued adding that the Deputy Commissioners must ensure that the medicines are available to the patients.

     The Chief Minister also said that the state government has also launched Farishtay scheme for Road side trauma victims as per which treatment will be provided free of cost at the nearest empanelled hospital . He asked the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that District level Committees scrutinize the expenditure wherever the same is more than the prescribed limit / days without any inordinate delay. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that 52 packages have been identified and 495 hospitals have been empanelled under this scheme across the state.

    The Chief Minister said that the state government has taken several steps to ensure that canal water reaches at the tail end in every village. He asked the Deputy Commissioners to complete the ongoing process so that the farmers are immensely benefitted from it. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state government is committed to making optimum utilization of the canal water to benefit the farmers.

    The Chief Minister also said that the state government will open 13 new Schools of Eminence in districts of Amritsar, Bathinda, Fazilka, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar and Tarn Taran. He asked the Deputy Commissioners of the concerned districts to ensure that these schools are operational well in time to benefit the students. Bhagwant Singh Mann also asked the Deputy Commissioners to ensure boundary wall, provision of Toilets, Furniture, Drinking water facility, campus managers along with Internet/Wi-Fi facility in all schools by March 31.

    The Chief Minister also asked the Deputy Commissioners to hold regular meetings of the District Education Development Committee besides making surprise inspections in the school. He also asked the officers to make sure that the students get school uniforms well in time along with identification of innovative projects of school education at district level. Bhagwant Singh Mann also underscored the need for ensuring implementation of SoP’s on hazardous trees and unsafe buildings inside the school campus.

    The Chief Minister also asked the Deputy Commissioners to optimally utilise the MGNREGA scheme for giving fillip to the development of villages on one hand and providing jobs to needy people on the other. He said that till date, 308 lakh mandays have been generated under the scheme in the state thereby giving employment to 8.17 lakh Households. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the state has set an expenditure target of Rs 2,000 crore for all districts, which translates into 440 lakh mandays for all districts put together adding that the Deputy Commissioners should ensure that the target is achieved in the current fiscal.

   Dwelling on another Chief Minister, ask the officers to ensure that work for starting construction of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra National Highway is put on fast-track mode. He said that this is an ambitious project, which once completed, will save time, money and energy of commuters travelling from Delhi to Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir especially those desirous of paying obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the 254 kilometer long highway will be constructed at a cost Rs 11,510 crore and will pass through nine districts of the state viz. Jalandhar, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Patiala, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur.

    The Chief Minister also asked the Deputy Commissioners to ensure the proper upkeep of the roads within their jurisdiction. He said that the funds have been already allotted to the PWD authorities for the proper upkeep of roads. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that no stone is being left unturned for ensuring that commuters do not face any sort of inconvenience on roads.