Chandigarh, Oct 17 (Bureau) Presenting the report card of seven months’ performance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Sunday said Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ushered a new era of politics in the state by eliminating corruption and mafia culture patronised by previous governments since past seven decades. Addressing a press conference here at party headquarters, Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Arora slammed previous Congress, SAD and BJP governments for pushing Punjab into a colossal debt and said that most of their leaders indulged in malpractices and they filled their own coffers, but on the contrast, AAP government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against corruption to bring back lost glory of the state. Listing the achievements of the AAP government, the Information & Public Relations Minister said the Mann government took historic decisions in seven months which the previous governments had failed to take in over past 70 years of their regime. He said the AAP is generating employment as promised during poll campaigns. The government has regularised services of 9000 teachers and a process initiated to regularise the services of remaining 28000 contractual employees. The government has also started the process for 26,000 posts lying vacant in various government departments in boards along with filling the 2500 posts of various cadres filled in the Police Department.
He said an anti-corruption helpline has been launched to combat corruption in Punjab. “One of the biggest achievements of the Mann government is cracking down on corrupt leaders. In the past seven months, the state government has arrested over 220 influential people, senior politicians and bureaucrats who had looted Punjab and were being patronised by the successive governments,” the Minister said while addressing the media. Replying to a media query over ongoing inquiries against opposition leaders, Arora said that unlike previous governments, AAP is not doing vendetta politics and actions will only be initiated against them after investigation team finds them guilty in the probe. Arora said under the dynamic leadership of CM Mann, the state government has also taken a myriad of pro-farmers decisions including giving MSP on Moong as third crop after procuring it at an MSP price of Rs.7275 per quintal. He said for the first time, load enhancement fees on tubewells slashed from existing Rs.4750 to Rs.2500 per HP as one time measure for farmers. The subsidy of Rs.1500 per acre has been given for Direct Seeding of Rice to save ground water from depletion.Likewise, price of sugarcane enhanced Rs.20 per quintal from Rs.360 to Rs.380. The area under summer Moong has increased from 54,363 acres to 1,28,495 acres. The government also sanctioned pending compensation to farmers affected with inclement weather and floods. All pending arrears of canegrowers have been cleared.Arora said to provide free and best health services at the doorstep of the common man, 100 Aam Aadmi clinics dedicated to the people of the state while 16 new medical colleges have been announced to be constructed in the state. The government has also inaugurated Dr. Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital, Mullanpur to offer best quality treatment to cancer patients.
Besides this, the government has done crackdown on illegal encroachments and freed panchayat land worth crores and these funds will be spent on the welfare of common people. Taking a dig at the SAD party, Arora said Kabaddi tournaments were also held in the Badal government, but the opposition spent money on heroines. However, the Mann government has organized ‘Kheda Vattan Punjab Diya’ and will give Rs six crore rewards to sports players to encourage youngsters to stay away from drug menace and take part in the sports actively. The government had also honoured stars of the Commonwealth Games. Lashing out at previous CM Charanjit Singh Channi, the Cabinet Minister said earlier only big hoardings were installed in the state and benefits of electricity was given to a particular section only but the AAP government is now giving 600 units electricity free of cost per billing cycle to every household irrespective of their caste. Not only this, all pending bills of people waived off and disconnected connections have been restored by the AAP government in this short span.Ending monopoly of private operators in Punjab, AAP started government volvo buses to Delhi airport and also revised the time-table due to this, state-owned transport is now in profit. He said an Anti-Gangster Task Force also constituted for wiping gangsters and many notorious criminals have been arrested. Reiterating his government’s commitment to bring reform in the state, the minister Arora said, “AAP is a pro-people and pro-farmers government. The CM Mann is working industriously to make the state as ‘Rangla Punjab’ again and the work done in the past seven month in Punjab is a testament of it.”