Chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said as many as 14 lives are lost in road accidents across Punjab every day, while announcing the state’s decision to form a first-of-its-kind Road Safety Force to streamline the movement of traffic.
Mann, who was addressing a gathering at a state-level function, said, “Casualties can be checked by manning the roads well for which ‘Road Safety Force’ has been formed.”
He added that the force will be entrusted with the task of checking rash driving, streamlining vehicular movement on roads and others to check accidents.
The CM also handed over cheques of financial assistance worth ₹101 crore to 25,000 eligible beneficiaries ( ₹1.75 lakh to each) for construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme.
After handing over the cheques aimed to help reconstruction of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, Mann said the state government was duty-bound to ensure the well being of every strata of society, especially the underprivileged.
He said it was a bounden duty of the government to provide “roti, kapda, aur makaan (food, clothes and house)” to all residents of the state, adding that in a welfare state, the money for these pro-people initiatives come from the tax collected from masses which is repaid in form of welfare schemes back to them.
{{/usCountry}}He said it was a bounden duty of the government to provide “roti, kapda, aur makaan (food, clothes and house)” to all residents of the state, adding that in a welfare state, the money for these pro-people initiatives come from the tax collected from masses which is repaid in form of welfare schemes back to them.
{{/usCountry}}Tractors flagged off
In a bid to make Ludhiana city clean, green and pollution free, the CM, meanwhile, flagged off a super suction-cum-jetting machine for mechanised cleaning of sewer lines in the city along with 50 tractors.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said the hi-tech super suction-cum-jetting machine has been bought at a cost of ₹1.45 crore. He said the machine will be instrumental in cleaning of 200-km long main sewerage lines of the city. Mann said the machine will be helpful in resolving the major issue of the sewerage problem in the city thereby giving major respite to the people.
He said 50 tractors have also been purchased by the city’s municipal corporation at a cost of ₹2.22 crore, adding, “These tractors have been bought for various branches of the civic body including building and roads (B&R), operation and maintenance (O&M), health, horticulture and others.”
He added that these tractors will be instrumental in lifting the debris, for supply of water through tankers, collection of garbage and other operations.