Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak on Thursday stressed that concerted efforts would be made to make Ludhiana district clean, green, and pollution-free as a slew of projects were already going on in the district to achieve this mission.
Chairing a review meeting with MLAs and heads of different government departments here at Bachat Bhawan, the Minister said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab Government is laying emphasis on creating a pollution-free environment for the people of the state.
Under this mission, in Ludhiana, as many as 50,000 tree saplings would be planted in each assembly constituency so as to increase the forest cover of the district. Likewise, three trees per tube-well scheme has also been rolled out wherein three saplings would be planted around each tube-well, he said adding as many as 75 saplings to be planted in each village of the district under this mission.
He also said that in the coming days over 5,000 saplings would be planted on Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road under the beautification project. He further pointed out that over 1.25 crore saplings would be done in the entire state this year so as to increase forest cover in Punjab.
Accompanied by MLAs Daljit Singh Grewal, Madan Lal Bagga, Gurpreet Bassi Gogi, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Kulwant Singh Sidhu, Tarunpreet Singh Sond, Jagtar Singh Dyalpura, District Planning Board chairman Sharanpal Singh Makkar, Ludhiana Improvement Trust chairman Tarsem Singh Bhinder, Chairman Navjot Singh Jarg and Suresh Goyal, Zila Parishad Chairman Yadwinder Singh Jandiali, senior AAP leader Dr KNS Kang, besides others, the Cabinet Minister further reviewed the on-going rejuvenation project for Buddha Dariya wherein he took stock of construction of sewerage treatment plants in the district.
The Minister said that currently there was a total 765 MLD waste being discharged in Buddha Dariya including domestic, waste, and industrial waste; and with the strengthening and augmentation of existing sewerage treatment plants, the district would be able to treat nearly 846 MLD waste which is way higher than the total discharge as a whopping amount of Rs. 650 crore was being spent on these plants.
He added that it would lead to creating a pollution-free environment in Ludhiana district. The Minister directed the officials of PPCB to develop a mechanism to act swiftly against the polluters immediately after receiving complaints from the people so that no one could dare to pollute the Budda Dariya.
Earlier, he also directed the officials to complete all ongoing projects in the district within the stipulated time frame so that the dream of a clean, green, and pollution-free environment could be realized at the earliest.
Taking stock of the working of Aam Aadmi Clinics, Mr. Kataruchak mentioned that a total of 46 clinics were set up under phase-I and phase-II of this project while 31 new clinics have been proposed under the next phases in the Ludhiana Districts.
These clinics would further boost the healthcare services in the district by providing free-of-cost OPD and Lab testing facilities to people, he said adding that the Ludhiana District had claimed the top position in the state in terms of providing maximum OPDs at Aam Aadmi Clinics.
The Cabinet Minister who is also in charge of Ludhiana District also reviewed the progress of several projects including drug-de addiction program, smart city project, AMRUT scheme, plantation drive, flood-management, development projects, setting up of schools of eminence, employment program, and mid-day meal scheme, besides others.
Meanwhile, he directed the officers to reach out masses with pro-people schemes of the state government. He mentioned that it would also bridge gap between public and government as Chief Minister already launched 'Sarkaar Tuhade Dwar' initiative to achieve this goal.
Prominent among those present on occasion included Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik, IG Ludhiana Range Dr Kaustubh Sharma, MC Commissioner Dr. Shena Agarwal, CP Mandeep Singh Sidhu, SSPs Amneet Kondal and Navneet Singh Bains, and heads of different departments.