To check delays and speed up implementation of various projects and schemes in the state, the Punjab government has decided to establish an empowered committee of Ministers, who will have the powers to take all necessary decisions relating to the same.The decision was taken here on Thursday by the Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.With the Chief Minister as chairman, the Committee will have Local Government Minister and Finance Minister as its Members and the Minister Incharge of concerned department as its Co-opted Member. On the suggestion of the Chief Minister, who pointed out that many issues that come up in project implementation are SC-related, the Cabinet also approved inclusion of the senior most SC minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot as a member.The meetings of the empowered committee would be attended by the Chief Secretary and Administrative Secretaries of the concerned departments, besides Chief Principal Secretary to CM, Principal Secretary to CM and Principal Secretary Finance.The committee will meet every week, at least for the first six months, and the concerned administrative department would put its agenda of schemes and projects to the Chief Minister through its Minister In-charge, for further placing it before the Empowered Committee for consideration.
The agenda of the empowered committee would be circulated to all concerned departments in advance, and they would be provided an opportunity to present their views in the meeting of the committee before a final decision is taken. Once a decision has been taken by the empowered committee, the concerned administrative department shall not be required to send any reference or proposal to any other department, including the Departments of Finance and Personnel, for any further approvals. It shall be incumbent upon the concerned administrative departments to ensure compliance of all decisions of the empowered committee.The administrative department would be required to give specific timelines for completion of projects and schemes or assigned tasks, and it would submit its progress report thereon to the empowered committee. The very first item on the agenda of each meeting of the empowered committee would be to review the progress of decisions taken by it in the previous meetings, and discuss bottlenecks, if any. All decisions to be taken by the empowered committee shall be placed before the Council of Ministers, for their information, from time to time.