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‘Fake’: CM Mann on top rank for Punjab in school education
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday dismissed the number one ranking Punjab got from the Centre in school education, calling it “fake”
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday dismissed the number one ranking Punjab got from the Centre in school education, calling it “fake”.
The chief minister (CM) made the remark during the question hour on the opening day of the state assembly when leader of opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa urged him to accept the ranking and appreciate ministers, teachers and officials of the education department. “You must give full credit to them,” the Congress leader said to the CM in reference to a question pertaining to education sector.
Mann immediately sprang to his feet and rejected the LoP’s suggestion, stating that smart schools cannot be created by merely painting their walls. “Do they have anything inside? Where is the infrastructure? Do they have drinking water? Where are the teachers? This is not number one. Yeh jaali number one hai (This is fake number one ranking). We will show how to make them real number one,” he said.
Punjab had clinched the top spot in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 rankings announced by the Union ministry of education last month. The NAS assessment was done last year when the Congress was in power in the state. During the election campaign, the AAP had raised questions over the quality of education and infrastructure in schools in the state.
₹34 cr due from private transporters
An amount of ₹34.52 crore is due from private transport companies till May 31 and notices have been issued to them for recovery as per the Punjab Motor Vehicle Act Taxation Act 1924, transport and hospitality minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said in response to a starred question.
The LoP had asked about the outstanding amount of tax against private transporters and efforts being made to recover the money. The minister said that checking is being done by the secretary, Regional Transport Authorities, regularly and action is being taken against the tax defaulters.
“The Punjab government, vide notification dated May 5, 2022, has notified the Amnesty Scheme wherein the owners of transport vehicles who have to deposit arrears of taxes under the Act can pay the arrears without interest and penalty form May 5 to August 5,” he informed the House.
SIDELIGHTS
Remark of the day
After the Congress’ notice of the adjournment motion on law and order was rejected, leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa was in a fiery mood. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan tried to pacify the LOP by telling him that he is an experienced leader. “Experience will stay here if I am shot in the evening,” pat came the reply from Bajwa.
Bouncer of the day
Responding to the opposition’s attack on law and order, Sunam MLA Aman Arora quoted data from NCRB reports. But he immediately got a bouncer from a Congress member who asked why the Centre’s data is wrong for them in education sector and okay on law and order. The AAP has rejected the number one ranking given to Punjab by the Centre in education.
Challenge of the day
As AAP legislator Gurpreet Singh Banawali accused Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring of being “close associated” with a suspect in Sidhu Moose Wala murder case, the latter slammed him for making “baseless allegations”. Stating that a picture of the two shown by Banawali was taken during an election rally, Warring challenged the ruling party MLA to get a probe conducted into the matter by the anti-gangster task force head.
Absentees of the day
Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and AAP MLA from Jalalabad Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy were not present in the House when the speaker named them to take part in the debate on governor’s address. However, Kamboj entered the House a few minutes later.
