Punjab: Cong alleges rural fund fraud; minister says Centre urged to strengthen portal

The state government has urged the Centre to add biometric identification and iris scanning features to plug any possibility of a fraudulent withdrawal of funds from e-Gram Swaraj portal that mandates complete digitisation of panchayat records to strengthen e-governance.

The information was given by Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Tarunpreet Singh Sond in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday.

The issue was raised by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa in the wake of a fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1.80 crore provided by the Centre by forging digital signatures of designated officers in Ferozepur by some officials of the state Panchayat Department.

Alleging large-scale embezzlement, Bajwa sought audit of funds provided to the department during the question hour and demanded a government reply on the action taken in the corrupution case. Replying to it, Sond said an FIR had been registered against the accused officials following a departmental probe.

The accused include then BDPO Kirandeep Kaur, Ferozepur Panchayat Samiti chairperson Jaswinder Kaur and four data operators.

The minister said the department had written to the Vigilance and the cybercrime wing of the police to investigate the misuse of the digital signatures to withdraw the funds.

Govt to pay farmers for solar power generation

New and Renewable Energy Resource Minister Aman Arora told the Assembly that the government would come up with a policy to compensate farmers who generate excess solar power through solar pumps installed in their fields.

Currently, farmers aren’t paid for the power generation over and above their consumption.

Replying to a query raised by legislator Naresh Puri, Arora said while Punjab Energy Development Authority looks after rural, institutional and industrial sector, the domestic sector was with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.

Ponds in villages to be beautified across state

Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond informed the House that the department has targeted to clean ponds in all villages before the monsoon season. Machinery will be deployed wherever necessary for the cleaning process.

Replying to a query raised by MLA Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, Sond said de-silting and re-silting of ponds will be carried out wherever required.

Additionally, efforts will be made to clean and shape the pond edges, enhancing their aesthetics by planting grass along the banks, he said.

‘Rules for bull, dog races under consideration’

On a query by legislatorJaswant Singh Gajjan Majra, Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said to restart bullock cart races, new rules under the Punjab Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Kila Raipur Rural Sports Events and Fair) Rules, 2024 were under consideration.

After seeking legal opinion from the Advocate General, the file has been sent to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he told the House.