Be the torchbearers of Education revolution in the state: CM to Principals visiting Singapore

Bhagwant Mann flags off first batch of Government school Principals to Singapore for training

Asserts that first of its kind initiative by the state government aims at enhancing professional skills of the teachers to impart quality education to the students.

Chandigarh, February 4: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday flagged off the first batch of 36 Government school Principals visiting Singapore for upgrading their professional knowledge and expertise in the field of education.

Interacting with the delegation here at MGSIPA, the Chief Minister gave a clarion call to the teachers for becoming the torchbearers of the Education revolution being witnessed in the state since last ten months. He said that this first of its kind initiative by the state government is part of the State scheme for teachers’ foreign training cleared by Cabinet on Friday and aims at ensuring that the professional skills of the teaching fraternity is enhanced, so that they can deliver best education to the students. Bhagwant Mann said that the sole aim of this step is to enable the students of the government schools to compete with their convent educated peers and excel in life.

The Chief Minister reiterated that teachers are the nation builders who can uplift the level of education, so the state government has decided to upgrade their teaching skills by ensuring quality training to them. Bhagwant Mann said that as a part of this guarantee first batch of 36 Government School Principals are going to Singapore today I.e February 4 for professional training.

He said that these Principals will be participating in a Professional Teacher Training seminar from February 6-10.

The Chief Minister said that after the completion of training this first batch will return back on February 11. Bhagwant Mann said that this training will further widen the horizon of the teachers by equipping them with state-of-the-art teaching practices, leadership skills, creation of teaching-learning materials and audio-visual technology to meet objectives of Education in the post-Pandemic world, Essentials of Strategic Management, Shaping School Culture, Building Teachers' Professional Capital, Curriculum Leadership, Mentoring, and Lesson Observation Skills, Innovation in Teaching and Learning and Effective Communication. He envisioned that this path breaking initiative will prove to be a milestone for reforming education system in the state adding that with these efforts Punjab will soon become a front runner state in the field of education.

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CM exhorts people to follow the path shown by Sri Guru Ravidass ji to wipe out the various social maladies prevalent in the society

Flags off Shobha Yatra from Babu Jagjivan Ram Chowk to mark Pargat utsav Sri Guru Ravidass ji

Following on the footsteps of Sri Guru Ravidass ji, the state government is making strenuous efforts for carving out an egalitarian society

Says perpetrators of the Post matric scholarship scheme will be put behind the bars soon

Quips that those leaders who didn’t even have time to participate in such events have been now shown a door by the people

Jalandhar, February 4: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today gave a clarion call to people to follow the path shown by Sri Guru Ravidass ji to wipe out the various social maladies prevalent in the society.

The Chief Minister, while addressing the gathering before flagging off a Shobha Yatra to mark the parkash utsav of Sri Guru Ravidass ji, said that the bani of Sri Guru Ravidass ji is a lighthouse for the entire humanity. He said that Sri Guru Ravidass ji had shown the path of humanity to the entire world. Bhagwant Mann said that this bani can play a pivotal role in the emancipating the society for the various problems being confronted by it.

The Chief Minister said that following on the footsteps of Sri Guru Ravidass ji the state government is making strenuous efforts for carving out an egalitarian society. He said that in consonance with the path of equality shown by Sri Guru Ravidass ji and Baba Sahib Dr BR Ambedkar the state government is giving top priority to education and health sectors. Bhagwant Mann said that the schools of the state are being equipped with state of the art infrastructure and Human Resource so that quality education can be imparted to the students from weaker and underprivileged sections of society.

The Chief Minister said that poverty can be eradicated only by providing quality education to the students. He said that the focus of his government is to ensure that youth become job givers instead for job seekers. Bhagwant Mann said that this is need of hour to carve out a progressive and prosperous Punjab.

The Chief Minister bemoaned that unfortunately those who had been in power in the state earlier had mercilessly plundered the people for their vested political interests. He said that even the funds meant for welfare of poor students under Post Matric scholarship scheme were robbed. However, Bhagwant Mann said every single penny looted by these leaders will be recovered from them.

The Chief Minister felicitated the people on this solemn occasion and urged the people to tread the path shown by Sri Guru Ravidass Maharaj ji. He said that the life and teachings of Sri Guru Ravidass Ji continue to guide humanity towards an egalitarian society. Bhagwant Mann said that Sri Guru Ravidass Ji - a great spiritual ambassador and messiah of the poor and unprivileged sections of the society taught us to lead a virtuous and noble life.

The Chief Minister said that this ‘Parkash Utsav’ is an occasion to rededicate ourselves to the task of creating a society where every human being leads a life with self respect and dignity regardless of any discrimination. He appealed the people to celebrate the 'Parkash Utsav' of Guru ji collectively by rising above the parochial considerations of caste, creed, colour and religion. Bhagwant Mann said that Sri Guru Ravidass Maharaj Ji embodied the spirit of humility and human dignity.

The Chief Minister said that the message of Sri Guru Ravidas ji has been a source of knowledge and wisdom for whole society since ages. He said that life and teachings of Sri Guru Ravidass Maharaj ji will always inspire us to create a humane and just society, where every individual is given due dignity, regardless of his or her caste, creed, religion or gender. Bhagwant Mann further said that the message of love, compassion and equality preached by Sri Guru Ravidass ji will continue to inspire us to serve humanity with dedication and devotion in times to come.

The Chief Minister said that it is matter of great pride for him that he participates in various events related to great Gurus, martyrs, saints and seers. However, Bhagwant Mann said that he is surprised to note that at most of such places he is welcomed by saying that he is the first Chief Minister to be part of this event. He said that those leaders who didn’t even have time to participate in such events have been now shown a door by the people.

Earlier MLA Shital Angural welcomed the Chief Minister.

The Chief Ministers was felicitated by the organisers of the Shobha Yatra during the event.

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JIMPA GREETS PEOPLE ON PARKASH UTSAV OF GURU RAVIDAS JI

Chandigarh, Feburary 4: Revenue and Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa today greeted the people of the state on the occasion of Parkash Utsav of Sri Guru Ravidas ji.

Extending his greeting on the eve of Parkash Utsav of Sri Guru Ravidas ji, Jimpa said that Guru Ravidas ji embodied the spirit of humility and human dignity. He said that the message of Guru Ravidas ji have been a source of knowledge and wisdom for the whole society. His life and teachings would always inspire us to create a humane and just society, where every individual is given due dignity, regardless of his or her caste, creed, religion or gender, he added.

He said that Guru Ravidas Ji’s message of love, compassion and equality would continue to inspire us to serve humanity with dedication and devotion in times to come.

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AMAN ARORA KICK STARTS "KHEDAN HALQA SUNAM DIYAN" IN MEMORY OF BABU BHAGWAN DASS ARORA

• Cabinet Minister felicitates International Boxer Padma Shri Kaur Singh and Asian Games winner Athlete Padma Shri Sunita Rani

• In a first, 207 teams, comprising 2037 players, from a same constituency are participating in Volleyball Shooting, Smashing & Tug of War competitions

• Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation organises 2-day tournament to promote sports culture

Chandigarh, February 4:In order to promote sports culture in the state as per the commitment of Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Information & Public Relations, Housing & Urban Development, New & Renewable Energy Sources and Printing & Stationery Minister Mr. Aman Arora, on Saturday, inaugurated 'Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan' organised in the memory of Late Punjab Minister Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora, the father of Mr. Aman Arora, at Shaheed Bhai Mati Das Senior Secondary School, Longowal.

This would be for the first time in the history of Punjab that as many as 207 teams, comprising 2037 players, from a same constituency are participating in the rural sports, stated the cabinet minister.

Mr. Aman Arora also felicitated Padma Shri heavyweight International Boxer Kaur Singh, Gold medal winner of Asian Games and Padma Shri Sunita Rani, Gold Medalist Athlete of Asian Games, while calling them sports icons of Punjab.

He interacted with players and urged them to play with spirit of sportsmanship. The Cabinet Minister informed that three categories of sports— Volleyball Shooting, Volleyball Smashing and Tug of War, are being organised to promote sports culture at the ground level as per the commitment of Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann, who is ardent sports lover.

Highlighting the projects being carried out in Sunam constituency, Mr Aman Arora said that a stadium will be constructed with the cost of Rs. 3.97 crore at Longowal to ensure the state-of-the-art sports infrastructure to the youth. Apart from this, Shaheed Bhai Mati Das Senior Secondary School, Longowal and Govt Senior Secondary School (Boys), Sunam will be converted into School of Eminence, Rs 3.62 crore will be spent on completion of the remaining construction of two storeys of Govt School (Girls), Sunam and Rs 1.31 crore will be spent on the Bus stand and boundary wall of Civil Hospital will be constructed with cost of Rs. 38 lakh.

The Cabinet Minister further said that Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Sunam Super League under the banner of 'Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan' is being organised by the Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation. Pertinently, Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation has been organising medical camps and carrying out other social works for the welfare of public for over a decade.

Recently, Mann Government had also organised the three-month long sports gala "Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan" to identify hidden talent and thereafter hone that talent to produce international level sportspersons from the state and over 3 lakh sportspersons participated in this mega sports event, said the cabinet minister.

Mr. Aman Arora said that winner teams of these three events will be bestowed with cash prizes along with trophies. Sports kits will also be distributed to all the participating teams, he added.

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PWD Minister seeks suggestions to bring further improvement in infra-works

Reiterates, Mann government committed to ensure justifiable use of public money

Chandigarh, February 4:To ensure quality and more transparency in road, building and other works of the Public Works Department, PWD Minister S. Harbhajan Singh ETO has sought suggestions from the officials of the department.

Presiding over an important meeting here, the Cabinet Minister reiterated that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led government was committed to ensure the justifiable use of public money, and will bring qualitative improvements in the work of the department. He urged the officials deputed at headquarters and field, to submit their suggestions, saying that every suggestion is valuable for the betterment of the department. Simultaneously, the Cabinet Minister directed the senior officials that the strategy should be devised in the next meeting to implement these suggestions, and received suggestions will be adopted in light of the departmental rules to ensure the improvement in the works besides avoiding any kind of legal hurdle.

Emphasizing on quality control, the Public Works Minister said that the department will consider setting up of a quality control wing at the field level to ensure the quality of works being done by the department.

With a view to permanently remove the deficiencies in road and other works, S. Harbhajan Singh ETO asked the officials to suggest that how to ensure qualitative construction of roads, bridges and buildings. He asked the officials to send their suggestions in writing for adopting mobile testing facility, GPS system using information technology, and supervision mechanism for ensuring quality of materials such as bitumen, gravel etc at the hot-mix plants and road construction sites. He categorically emphasized that fraud in cost price reconciliation (CVR) in road works will not be tolerated at any cost.

While emphasizing to strengthen the coordination with various departments for the ongoing works in the field, the Public Works Minister said that sometimes, the department faces obstacles to get NOC and other approvals, etc. from other concerned departments and due to lack of coordination, the works get delayed. Therefore, to strengthen and make the coordination mechanism more efficient, a meeting with the concerned departments will be held at the state level in a few days. He asked the officials to plan for meeting with various concerned departments and contractors to ensure quality government infrastructure. The Cabinet Minister also directed to use the funds available with the department as per requirement to avoid the fund lapse.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included, Special Secretary Mr. Harish Nayar, Joint Secretary S. Sakattar Singh Bal, Chief Engineer (Headquarters) Mr. V.K. Chopra and Chief Engineer and Superintending Engineer of the field.

On the occasion MLAs Shital Angural, Balkar Singh, Raman Arora and Inderjit Kaur Mann, Deputy Commissioner Jaspreet Singh, Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Chahal and others were also present.

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Rs 2.91 crore released for repair and maintenance of Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhawan established in 17 districts of state: Dr. Baljit Kaur

Mann Government endeavors to uplift standard of living of SC, BC and other poor sections of people

Chandigarh, February 4-The Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is constantly striving to raise the standard of living of the people of Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and other poor sections. Therefore, an amount of Rs 2.91 crores has been released for the year 2022-23 for the repair and maintenance of Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhawan established in 17 districts of the state.

Divulging in this regard, Minister of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities Dr. Baljit Kaur said that the amount of budget provision has been released during the year 2022-23 under the repair and maintenance of Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhawan. Due to this, approval has been given to release an amount of Rs 2.91 crore.

It was decided by the government to set up Dr. B.R Ambedkar Bhawan in every district so that facilities for Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and other poor sections can be provided under one roof with single windows. So far Dr. B.R Ambedkar Bhawan has been established in 17 districts. Remaining six districts, SAS Nagar, Barnala and Malerkotla Efforts are being made to arrange the land for setting up Dr Ambedkar Bhawan, while the land has been arranged in district Pathankot, Tarn Taran and Fazilka.

Cabinet Minister directed the officials of the department for the repair and maintenance work of Dr. B.R Ambedkar Bhawan to ensure transparency and quality in government works and strictly follow the financial regulation.

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MANN GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE ALL POSSIBLE STEPS TO MAKE THE STATE CLEAN:DR INDERBIR SINGH NIJJAR

ORGANIZED ONE DAY PEER LEARNING STATE LEVEL WORKSHOP ON BEST PRACTICES UNDER SWACHH BHARAT MISSION

Chandigarh, February 4:A one-day state level workshop on best practices under Swachh Bharat Mission was organized at Municipal Bhawan, Sector 35 Chandigarh, which was inaugurated by Minister for Local Government Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar.

During this workshop, Local Government Minister Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making all possible efforts to provide a clean and pollution-free environment to the people of the state. He asked the officials to segregate the wet and dry waste at the source places and manage it in a scientific manner. He invited the participants and people of the State to work collectively to make the state clean and tidy. He added that both components cleanliness and health are important for the development of the State.

Appreciating the officers and employees of the department, he said that the local government department is doing good work, as a result of which Punjab has secured the fifth position across the country in the Swachh Survekshan Abhiyan-2022. The minister said that the remaining Urban local bodies of the state should also take inspiration from the Urban local bodies that achieved the ranks. He has expressed hope from the Urban local bodies of the state that they should do better cleaning in their Urban local bodies so that the state can get the top position in the cleanliness drive in the future survey.

Local Government, Principal Secretary, Vivek Pratap Singh told the participants that waste should be properly managed in all Urban local bodies of the state. He said that many Urban local bodies of the state have made good progress in this, which has set an example for other urban local bodies. He also asked the officials and employees to contribute in making the cities of the state garbage free by working in a systematic manner.

PMIDC CEO Isha Kalia welcomed all the participants and gave detailed information about the various works undertaken under the Swachh Bharat Mission to make the state garbage free. The main objective of this workshop was to prepare an action plan to make the mission successful and information was given about the best practices being done by various urban local bodies of the state regarding waste management. Informal waste collectors, wet, plastic and dry waste, construction and demolition waste, horticultural waste, legacy waste management etc were discussed in detail in the workshop. An exhibition on waste-to-resource and single-use plastic alternatives was also organized on the occasion, in which various organizations showcased waste management and plastic alternatives.

In this workshop, Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Additional Deputy Commissioners (Urban Development and General), Executive Officers (Municipal Corporations and Nagar Panchayats) and other officials were present.

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Groundwater Assessment zones can be accessed on https://pwrda.org

Chandigarh, February 4:The Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority (PWRDA) has notified the “Punjab Groundwater Extraction and Conservation Directions, 2023” which have come into effect from the 1st of February, 2023.

Disclosing this, a spokesperson of the authority said that the new directions apart from regulating groundwater also encourage users to conserve water through water conservation schemes. The authority will also fund public water conservation projects to be implemented by State Government Departments.

PWRDA is the first Water Authority in India to implement the concept of water conservation credits. The Users may opt to implement a water conservation scheme with the approval of the Authority, either within the Unit or outside. The User will be entitled for water conservation credits for the water conserved by it. For every cubic meter (1,000 liters) of water conserved, the user will earn a rebate equal to Rs. 2.50. The maximum rebate available to a Unit will depend on the zone in which the Unit is located and the volume of groundwater being extracted by it.

The Groundwater Extraction Charges will also be utilized by the Authority for funding the Public Water Conservation Schemes of various State Departments, such as a project for improvement of irrigation water conveyance efficiency so as to bring more area under canal water apart from improving the recharge of groundwater.

PWRDA shall facilitate rapid deployment and scaling up of water saving technologies in Agriculture. For this purpose, a pilot project for water conservation in coordination with the State Government has been initiated in the district of Sangrur to save upon groundwater in the State.

The project covers an area of 1720 acres spread over 29 villages in the district. Similar water saving projects are being planned to motivate farmers towards judicious use of water in agriculture.

The users are encouraged to implement water conservation schemes with approval of PWRDA both in their premises (e.g. rainwater harvesting) and also outside their units (e.g. collaborating with farmers to save irrigation water) to earn water conservation credits.

For Groundwater Assessment zones see the map of Punjab on website: https://pwrda.org.

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Media Bulletin COVID-19

04^th February 2023 (05:00 PM)

*After reconciliation of data, 1 sample added.

*After reconciliation of data, 1 confirmed case added to district Bathinda.

On 04^th February 2023

Patients reported Positive on 04^th February 2023 – Nil

Cumulative Cases:-