5 welfare schemes launched

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Thursday unveiled five schemes of the state government that will benefit the residents of Punjab in a big way.

Participating in the virtual programme presided over by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the ministers, accompanied by MLAs Rajinder Beri and Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori, Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, Municipal Commissioner Karnesh Sharma, said the state government had taken a historic step by launching five schemes — grant of proprietary rights to slum dwellers (Basera scheme), smart meters, e-dakhil, Dheean Di Lohri and distribution of sports kits.

They said Punjab could go slum-free through the Basera scheme, under which the lives of more than 1 lakh slum dwellers would be transformed.

They said in Jalandhar, eight slums have been identified, including five in the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation Jalandhar and three in Kartarpur, Adampur, and Phillaur Municipal Councils.

They said survey teams were already in the field to upload the correct data on the mobile app about slums and this process would be over by February 28. The ministers informed that 4-G technology-based smart meters would not only facilitate power consumers by ensuring transparent metering, billing and collection process, but would also curtail power theft.

Meanwhile, e-dakhil project is aimed at giving more powers to consumers by providing them an easy and hassle-free platform to file any complaint in the consumer commission online application portal besides lodging revision petition and first appeal here, they said.

At the starting of the month-long events under ‘Dheean Di Lohri’ scheme, the ministers envisioned that celebrating traditional festivals such as Lohri with a new twist in the form of ‘Dheean Di Lohri’ would prove instrumental in further improving the sex ratio. They said it was all the more important to create a mass awakening among the masses against the menace of female foeticide, thereby empowering women.

The ministers said the initiative of distributing 2,500 sports kits would give a major fillip to sports activity in the state. The ministers said these would play a pivotal role in the promotion of sports and other social activities in rural areas.

Prominent among present included chairman Punjab State Water Resources Management Development Corporation (PWRMDC) Jagbir Singh Brar, Additional Deputy Commissioners Vishesh Sarangal, Jasbir Singh, DCP Traffic Naresh Dogra, SDM Dr Jai Inder Singh, Assistant Commissioner Hardeep Singh and DFSC Narinder Singh among others.