Fulfilling a major poll promise, the Punjab ChiefMinister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday launched the enhanced SocialSecurity pension of Rs. 1500 per month, a threefold increase from Rs. 500earlier given by the SAD-BJP alliance government.
At the very outset, Captain Amarinder Singh joined thepeople in paying glowing tributes to the former Chief Minister late Beant Singhon his 26th Death Anniversary by observing two minutes silence.
Addressing the people on the occasion, the Chief Ministersaid that Sardar Beant Singh laid down his life for peace, which ultimately ledto a congenial atmosphere to ensure economic development in the state.
The Chief Minister further said that out of 547 pollpromises made in the manifesto, 422 have already been fully implemented, 52partially while 59 are yet to be implemented. “Thus, we have fulfilled 90percent of the implementable promises which is the highest ever in any Stateafter Chandra Babu Naidu’s government in Andhra Pradesh”, said CaptainAmarinder Singh adding 14 promises are difficult to fulfill as these arerelated to VAT which has been replaced by the GST regime.
Elaborating on the other welfare measures undertaken byhis Government in line with the several promises made with the people, CaptainAmarinder Singh said that the amount under shagun scheme (Aashirwad) hasalready been enhanced to Rs. 51,000. Likewise, relief worth Rs. 4700 crore hasbeen disbursed to small and marginal farmers under ‘Kisaani Karza Raahat’besides Rs. 520 crore as debt relief to farm labourers and landless farmers. Aspromised, the state government has already given Smartphones to the students ofClass XII, said Captain Amarinder Singh.
The Chief Minister further said that his government hadalready revived the SC scholarship to enable the poor and needy students topursue higher learning. Similarly, loans upto Rs. 50,000 of SC/BC Corporationhave also been waived towards debt relief for disadvantages sections of thesociety. Towards empowerment of women, the state government has already ensured50% reservation for them in Panchayats/Urban Local Bodies besides 33 percentreservation in jobs along with free bus travel facility.
As many as 17 lakh jobs have been facilitated as part of‘Ghar Ghar Naukri’ initiative apart from free medical insurance to 38 lakhpersons. Likewise, Punjab secured the top position in the country in SchoolEducation as a result of concerted efforts to ensure robust school educationinfrastructure for imparting quality education, the impact of which is clearlyvisible from the trend as more and more students are now keen to takeadmissions in government schools instead of private ones.
Reiterating his government’s firm commitment to fulfillall the promises made to the people, the Chief Minister said that every singlegrain from the mandis has been lifted by honouring the promise ‘Dana DanaChakkange’ besides making all out efforts to protect the precious naturalresource of water in the right earnest.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister disbursed cheques ofenhanced pension to 10 old age, widow, destitute and handicapped beneficiariesto mark the symbolic launch of the scheme across the state. Meanwhile, threebeneficiaries namely Paramjit Kaur an elderly lady from Jalandhar, Mamta Rani awidow from Patiala and Inderjit Singh a differently abled person from Gurdaspurexpressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for doubling the monthly pension fromRs.750 to Rs.1500.
Notably, people from across the state virtually joinedtoday’s event at nearly 4000 different locations while several Ministers, MLAsand other people’s representatives participated at 400 functions organized indifferent parts of the state for disbursal of cheques of enhanced socialsecurity pension.
Speaking on the occasion, Social Security, Women andChild Development Minister Aruna Chaudhary lauded the Chief Minister to doublethe social security pension from Rs.750 to Rs.1500 per month from July 1, 2021to 27 lakh old age, widow, destitute and handicapped beneficiaries. With theenhanced pension, the annual budget for disbursal of these security pensionshas gone up to Rs.4800 crore.
She also mentioned that the Congress government has hikedthis pension four times during its tenure of 15 year rule since 1992 includingthrice during Captain Amarinder Singh’s nine year term as Chief Ministerwhereas the SAD-BJP regime increased the pension merely once during its 15years of regime, said Aruna Chaudhary.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasionincluded; Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Health & Family WelfareMinister Balbir Singh Sidhu, Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities &Forests Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, MLA Patti Harminder Singh Gill besidesChief Secretary Vini Mahajan and Principal Secretary Social Security, Women andChild Development Raji P Shrivastava.