Chandigarh: Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today said the local government department has decided to conduct a forensic audit in order to unearth alleged corruption during previous governments and instill a sense of accountability in urban local bodies.
In the 1st phase, the audit would be carried out in big corporation cities of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, and Ludhiana and their improvement trusts, besides three municipalities of Kharar, Zirakpur, and Rajpura and completed by September 2018, he said. He said the department is committed to the transformation of the urban areas and strengthening them economically, besides providing services in a transparent and efficient manner.
The objective of the cultural affairs department is to connect the youths of Punjab to the cultural and historical heritage of the state by starting a movement, he told reporters here. Elaborating other futuristic initiatives, Sidhu said an e-governance project aimed at providing better facilities to people living the urban centers would be kickstarted in April 2018 and would come to fruition in December 2018.
He said as a step towards women empowerment 50 per cent reservation was granted to women in all the Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and the panchayats in the state. The menace of stray animals in urban centers would be tackled by framing a policy, he said.
As many as 46 urban local bodies have been declared Open-Defecation Free till December 31, 2017, and 100 more cities would become ODF by March 31, 2018, and all the cities would be ridden of this practice by June 30, he said. The long-term plan is being prepared for addressing the problem of clogged sewerage in the cities apart from providing clean drinking water to the urban population, he said.
Sidhu said a detailed and all-encompassing cultural policy was framed, making Punjab the 2nd state after Manipur to do so. He added that tourism and medical tourism policies are also being given finishing touches which would soon be getting approval from the cabinet. PTI
