To mark the historic 75th Independence Day of thecountry, Punjab Chief Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sundayannounced Rs.1200 crore worth of projects for the development of link roads,phirnis and roads, along with a slew of SC welfare programmes.
The Chief Minister further announced that an Act wouldsoon be notified which would mandate budgetary spending on Dalit welfare equalto the percentage of SC population in the State, and the 85th ConstitutionalAmendment would be implemented in line with the judgements of the SupremeCourt.
In order to facilitate ease of doing business, the ChiefMinister also announced a new set of a whopping 1150 reforms for Medium &Small Enterprises (MSMEs). The details of these would be separately shared bythe Department of Investment Promotion, he said.
He also announced that certain expensive medicalprocedures and tests like Dialysis, X-Rays etc would be made free at governmenthospitals. He also said that a Universal Health Insurance would be launchedshortly.
Regularisation of all Safai Karamcharis working for thepast over 10 years and increase in the monthly honorarium of Anganwadi Workers,Mini Anganwadi Worker and Helpers by Rs. 600, Rs. 500 and Rs.300 respectivelywere among other key announcements made by the Chief Minister.
A sum of Rs.1170 crore would be spent under the PunjabNirman Programme for infrastructure development according to the felt needs ofthe people residing in the rural/urban areas, said the Chief Minister.
Referring to the welfare of landless farmers, the ChiefMinister said that the state government would make payment of Rs. 520 crores to2.85 lakh landless farmers under the Debt Relief scheme on the coming 20thAugust, the birth anniversary of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.Further, Debt Relief upto Rs. 50,000 would be shortly given to about 16,000beneficiaries of SC and BC Corporation at a cost of Rs. 62 crore, he added.
The Chief Minister said a sum of Rs.5 crore would beearmarked for the development of area in and around Guru ki Wadali, thebirthplace of the 6th Sikh Guru Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib ji in the vicinity ofholy city of Amritsar.
Paying glowing tributes to the legendary martyr Madan LalDhingra, the Chief Minister announced that a memorial would be established inAmritsar City as a mark of homage to him.
Among those present on the occasion were MP Gurjit SinghAujala and MLAs Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sunil Dutti, Harpartap Singh Ajnala, TarsemSingh DC, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Santokh Singh Bhalipir and Balwinder SinghLaddi, Mayor MC Amritsar Karamjit Singh Rintu, Senior Advisor to CM Lt Gen TSShergill (Retd), Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Chief Secretary ViniMahajan, DGP Dinkar Gupta, Divisional Commissioner Varun Roozam, DeputyCommissioner Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Commissioner Police Amritsar DrSukhchain Singh Gill and Commissioner MC Amritsar Malwinder Singh Jaggi.