Chandigarh: The Punjab government would enhance the amount under the Ashirwad scheme, earlier known as Shagun scheme, to Rs 51,000, as promised by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the state Assembly was informed today. Punjab Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, replying to a question by AAP MLA Baldev Singh, assured the House today that the Ashirward scheme amount, already raised by the government from, Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000, would be further raised in line with the chief minister's commitment, as soon as the state's financial situation improves.
Reiterating the chief minister's commitment to uplift the underprivileged sections of the society, the minister on the last day of the winter session said the government would make no compromises in its welfare schemes and all promises made to the people would be fulfilled. Akali MLA Bikram Majithia asked the minister when the pending payment towards Shagun scheme would be released. The minister disclosed that of the total Rs 643.65 lakh disbursed from March 2016 to October 2017, Rs 455.88 lakh had been given to Gurdaspur and Rs 187.77 lakh to the Pathankot district.
The MLA had sought district wise details about disbursement under the scheme during this period. However, Majithia claimed that a sum of Rs 100 crore was still pending. Replying to the charge, Dharamsot said during the past 10 years of Akali regime, the sum of Shagun scheme was not raised from Rs 15,000. When the Congress government came to power, it raised it to Rs 21,000, he added. To a question, cabinet minister Navjot Sidhu said the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already approved Rs 43 crore and the government was in the process of getting Rs 200 crore from the World Bank for up-gradation of the fire services in the state.
The fire services will be completely modernised and upgraded within the next three years, Sidhu told the Vidhan Sabha in response to a question by MLA NK Sharma. Of the Rs 43 crore sanctioned by the chief minister, Rs 7 crore had been earmarked for buying fire clothing and safety equipment for the firemen across the state, said Sidhu, adding that all the required 550 fire tenders would be made available, along with mandated staff allocation, over the next three years.
With this, the mandated limit of one fire tender for every 50,000 people would be achieved, he added. Sidhu said the state government would be holding a meeting with the central government on December 15 for the World Bank funding. Pointing out that lack of trained staff was a major challenge in providing timely services, Sidhu said that the department had already initiated the process of hiring and 46 fire employees would be inducted soon.
Lambasting the previous SAD-BJP misrule for the current dilapidated condition of fire tenders across the state, the minister said that from 2007 to 2013, a sum of Rs 32 crore were granted by the central government to the state but the SAD government failed to spend anything and did not submit the utilisation certificate to the Centre, which then put Punjab in the red zone. Even during 2013, a huge sum of Rs 92 crore were approved for disaster management but only Rs 17 crore was utilised, Sidhu said. Majithia also took a swipe at Sidhu saying the minister sent the fire tenders to several areas without making arrangement of staff including drivers