Punjab Rural Development and Panchayats Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar today handed over appointment letters to 134 newly recruited employees in the department. Addressing the function here at Punjab Bhawan, the Cabinet Minister congratulated newly-inducted employees and exhorted them to work with missionary zeal for empowering the needy women of rural areas by providing them benefits of government financial schemes for creating self-employment opportunities.
S. Laljit Singh Bhullar said, the Punjab State Rural Livelihoods Mission (PSRLM) provides employment opportunities to poor rural women, and newly-inducted employees will contribute for the smooth implementation of the scheme at the village level besides sensitizing needy women. Hence, they should perform their duty with utmost dedication and honesty, he added.
The Minister said, with the implementation of the Punjab State Rural Livelihoods Mission in the state, the dependence of women members of self-help groups on private financiers has been reduced to a considerable extent. Under this scheme, financial assistance is being provided to rural women producers for increasing agriculture and livestock production, developing value chains and non-agricultural activities such as making sanitary pads, pickles, handicrafts and running stores etc.
He said that the government provides benefit under this scheme at the doorsteps of rural women through these employees so that self-employment opportunities can be created for them while improving their manual skills. S. Laljit Singh Bhullar said that Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann led government is committed to provide maximum employment opportunities to the youth of the state, adding that so far, Mann government has provided government jobs to more than 29,000 youngsters.
He said that the process of filling various posts in the department will be initiated soon. Apart from 8 clerks in the department, the employees recruited under Punjab State Rural Livelihoods Mission included; 8 District Program Managers, 9 District MIS Managers, 48 Block Program Managers, 20 Block Program Managers (Livelihoods), 2 Block Program Managers (SVEP/NF), 32 Cluster Coordinators besides 3 Young Professionals, 2 Office Assistants, 1 Account Assistant and 1 MIS Assistant at State level.
Joint Development Commissioner Mr. Amit Kumar, Director Mr. Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Additional Director Mr. Sanjeev Garg, Additional CEO (Livelihood) Mr. S.P. Angra and other officials of the department were also present on this occasion.