While reviewing the status of ongoing development works in Faridkot division, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan directed the officials to expedite the implementation of development works which had slowed due to COVID 19 pandemic. This was her third consecutive field visit after Rupnagar and Ferozepur divisions.During the meeting with the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners of the Faridkot, Bathinda and Mansa districts, the Chief Secretary reviewed the status of ongoing development projects and progress of various government schemes. She also inaugurated the public assistance cum public grievance redressal centre at Faridkot and urged people to utilise the PGRS designed specially for timely redressal of public grievances. Addressing the media personnel after the review meeting, Ms. Vini Mahajan said that the aim of the field visits is to ensure the effective implementation of government schemes and get ground level feedback which is essential to ensuring that schemes are reaching the intended beneficiaries with the desired result. She also took note of the grievance regarding the delayed sewerage work in Faridkot, Jaito and Kotkapura and assured that the problem would be addressed expeditiously. Further, she apprised the media that the Kotkapura Railway Over Bridge (RoB) would be operational for traffic till December 31, 2020.Urging the people of the state to strictly follow the COVID-19 protocols, the Chief Secretary said that due to the concerted efforts of the state government and cooperation of the people of Punjab we have successfully contained the virus but the war is still going on.
“People should wear a mask, maintain social distancing and avoid mass gatherings to win the battle against Coronavirus in order to prevent a second surge. She also directed the Deputy Commissioners to increase testing and encourage teachers, governement employees, and others whose nature of employment brought them in contact with many people, to get themselves tested. Early identification would ensure timely isolation , treatment and prevent further transmission.Directing the officials to expedite the implementation of development projects halted due to COVID Lockdown, Ms. Vini Mahajan said that the Punjab Government was fully committed to enhancing Punjab's prosperity and has implemented various reforms in the industrial sector for improvement in the business environment to attract more investments. With the efforts of the Punjab Government, investment of Rs.70,000 crore has taken place in the state in last three and half years.While acknowledging that the area under stubble burning in Punjab had not increased from last year, she appealed to the farmers to shun the practice of straw burning as it was detrimental to productivity and severely affected the health of the people.Earlier, the Chief Secretary paid obeisance at Gurudwara Tilla Baba Farid Ji. Additional Chief Secretary Tourism Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary Health Mr. Hussan Lal, Faridkot Divisional Commissioner Mr. Ravinder Kumar Kaushik, Vice Chancellor Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Dr. Raj Bahadur, IGP Dr. Kaustubh Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Faridkot Mr. Vimal Kumar Setia, Deputy Commissioner Bathinda Mr. B Srinivasan and Deputy Commissioner Mansa Mr. Mohinder Pal were also present in the meeting.