Jalandhar, December 13 (NEWS HUNT)- Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni today directed the officials of various departments to further expedite the pace of ongoing development works in both urban and rural areas to complete these in stipulated timeline, which further provide facilities to people.

While reviewing the status of works here at the district administrative complex, the Deputy CM asked the officials from local bodies department to ensure all projects related to their departments concerned to be accomplished within stipulated time-frame.

Accompanied by Education Minister Pargat Singh, Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, MLAs Rajinder Beri, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Avtar Singh Bawa Henry, and Surinder Chaudhry, Mr. Soni said that Punjab Government was committed for the welfare of all sections of society adding that a slew of projects are being executed by the government to achieve the task of holistic development.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori apprised the Deputy CM that the Jalandhar is a front runner in the state in issuing timely mutations to property owners. He added that the district has implemented all the welfare and development schemes in letter and spirit as a total of 122 works under first phase of urban environment improvement program (UEIP) had been completed so far out of as many as 127 works by Municipal Corporation Jalandhar where as ADC (urban development) has completed 185 works of 188 total allotted works under this scheme. Likewise, under the second phase of this program 124 projects were accomplished to date out of a total of 198 works while about 215 works out of 237 were completed by the ADC (UD). The DC further mentioned that under MGNREGA as many as 85 percent beneficiaries were provided payments within seven days adding that under smart village campaign phase-II a total of 2708 works have been completed out of total 3075 projects which translates into 91 percent expenditure and 90 percent projects’ completion.

Throwing a light on the Covid-19 vaccination program in Jalandhar, the DC said about 91.06 percent and 54.08 percent eligible beneficiaries out of a total of 16.21 lakh beneficiaries have received their first and second doses respectively. He also said that the Jalandhar district has covered 91.02 percent families under AB-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna by issuing cards to as many as 2,63,891 beneficiaries who can avail the cashless healthcare services up to Rs. 5 lakh at 13 government and 71 empanelled private hospitals in the district.

Mr. Thori also apprised the Deputy CM that the Jalandhar is a leading district in terms of providing citizen centric services through Sewa Kendras by rendering services to as many as 3.46 lakh applicants out of a total of 3.68 lakh visitors by November, 2021. Likewise, the administration has ensured benefits of social security schemes including old age, widow, specially-abled, and dependent children pension up to November this. He further mentioned that under the UDID scheme a total of 19150 cards have been issued to specially-abled persons so far in Jalandhar.

Under smart city project a total of 71 projects costing Rs. 1460.06 crore to be completed in the city, he said while also detailing the progress made under Jal Jivan Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, construction of Modal Playgrounds, Hariyawal Scheme, Smart roads, Bio-remediation project at Wariyana dump site, LED lights in the city, drainage system, and Bultron Park sports hub project.

Prominent amongst others present on the occasion included IGP GS Dhillon, SSP Satinder Singh, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Jalandhar Karnesh Sharma, ADC (D) Jaspreet Singh, ADC (UD) Himanshu Jain, ADC (G) and Amarjit Singh Bains.

Kejriwal’s health model a flop show:

Interacting with media persons after the review meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister termed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s health model a flow show. He said that not just health all his so called models have proved failure there adding that the countrymen have themselves witnessed the deterioration of healthcare infrastructure in Delhi during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic triggering chaos in the national capital.

Responding to a query, Mr. Soni who is also holding the portfolio of health minister said that all the genuine demands of nurses and Asha workers would be fulfilled within a short span of time as the state government was sympathetically considering all their genuine concerns.