Punjab govt committed to bridge gap between privileged, marginalised: Governor

The Punjab government is committed to bridge the gap between the privileged and the marginalised to ensure that fruits of development reach every section of the society, Governor Banwarilal Purohit said on Friday in an address in the state assembly.

Purohit had to cut short his address after Congress MLAs disrupted his speech by raising slogans over the farmers' protest.

Purohit read out a few lines amid the commotion and told the House that the rest of it be deemed as read.

According to the statement on the 36-page address, Purohit said, ''one of the foremost priorities of my government is to foster an environment of inclusive growth, where every citizen of Punjab has equal opportunities to thrive and prosper.'' He added, ''My government continuously strives to bridge the gap between the privileged and the marginalised to ensure that fruits of development reach every section of the society.'' He said the government has successfully launched the last-mile delivery of ration to every household in Punjab under the scheme 'Ghar Ghar Muft Ration'.

The state government has launched several ''groundbreaking'' schemes in the important sectors of health and education, he said.

''664 Aam Aadmi Clinics are successfully operational throughout the state of Punjab,'' he said, adding, a total of Rs 1.07 crore of people visited these clinics to seek medical treatment.

Medicines worth Rs 450 crore at prevailing market rates and diagnostic tests worth Rs 70 crore were provided to the patients at these clinics, he said.

On education front, he said the government has started 'Punjab Sikhya Kranti' to improve infrastructure in all government schools.

As part of this campaign, work on construction of boundary walls in 7,082 schools has started and of these, 1,429 schools are getting boundary walls for the first time.

Till now, 12,126 schools have got internet connection while 4,369 toilets in the schools have been repaired, and 95,000 dual desks are being provided to government schools, the governor said The state government is committed to turn 118 government senior secondary schools into 'Schools of Eminence' equipping them with smart classrooms, labs, and playgrounds.

According to the address, the Shahpur Kandi Dam Project, which has been pending execution for more than 25 years, is seeing the light of the day at last. Filling of water in the dam's reservoir has started, he said.

The dam will be crucial in helping stop the water from going downstream to Pakistan and create an irrigation potential of more than 37,000 hectares, and an additional 206 megawatt of power, he said.

The state government has acquired a 540 MW private thermal plant from GVK at a very low cost which is history in itself by any state government.

The plant was acquired at a cost of Rs 1,080 crore which works out at Rs 2 crore per MW whereas a new thermal plant costs Rs 8.5 crore per MW, he said.

The state government is committed to boosting investments and industrial infrastructure in the state and has received 4,242 investment proposals with proposed investments of about Rs 65,993 crore, he said.

The law and order situation in Punjab is improving day by day and the Punjab Police has started various initiatives in this regard.

Some of the prominent moves include the launching of the Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) which spearheaded dedicated operations against gangsters and criminals in the state and other parts of the country, the governor said.

The unit was instrumental in the arrest of several wanted gangsters and criminals and busting various gangster modules and recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition, he said.

Till date, the AGTF along with other field units has succeeded in arresting 951 gangsters/criminals, neutralisation of 14 gangsters, busting 312 modules, recovering 963 weapons and 208 vehicles used in criminal activities, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)