Proposal has been sent by Rural Development to release 36.75 crores for the purpose

Spokesman News Service: Chandigarh-November 28^th- “Punjab Government could not give grant to Gram Panchayats for unification of cremation grounds during 2016-2017 as Treasury Office, SAS Nagar did not pass Bill. Now, after filing of PIL, Proposal has been sent by Rural Development and Panchayats department to release 36.75 crores for the purpose”-Says  Punjab  Government in its affidavit in the PIL:

The  Department of Rural Development and Panchayats has filed an affidavit through Jaskiran Singh, Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, where in it has been stated that under the scheme for unification of cremation grounds, the department had sent bill for sanctioned amount , but the Bill was not passed by the Treasury Office, S.A.S. Nagar.

Now the department has again considered the said scheme and has decided to implement the scheme in the State of Punjab, and has accordingly written to the Planning department on 29.8.2018  for sanctioning the budget for the same . A perusal of the said letter shows that the department of Rural Development and Panchayats has demanded an amount of Rs.36.75 crores for the year 2018-2019 under this scheme.

The petition is likely to  come up for hearing before the Chief Justice’s Bench today. In reply to the PIL, it has been stated  that under the scheme, a grant of Rs.5 lakh is to be given to 5 Gram Panchayats to be selected for this purpose, in every Block every year, covering 735 Panchayats every year. The scheme states that “In many villages there are more than one cremation grounds.

Because of it in some  villages mutual brotherhood is at declining side. The purpose of this scheme is to upsurge brotherhood. Besides, there should be one cremation ground, instead of different cremation grounds, and that should be complete in all respects and all the facilities should be there for cremation of dead bodies. In his PIL, the petitioner had sought directions for implementation of this scheme, which was framed at his initiative taken through Punjab Scheduled Castes Commission.