Tarn Taran (Pb): The people of Punjab would be provided with a transparent administration and the government officers too would be made accountable, state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said here today. He said this during a meeting of the district officers, held to take stock of the various development works and welfare schemes being run in the district.  

The local bodies minister said an amount of Rs 19 crore would be released by the state government soon towards disbursing pensions among the beneficiaries. He also said to ensure that the benefits of the atta-dal scheme, pension and other schemes reached the beneficiaries, special camps would be held after the formation of clusters by the district administration, taking the MLAs concerned into confidence.  

Sidhu added that free toilets were being built for the needy people under the Centre's Swachh Bharat campaign. He directed the officers of the district administration to expand the base of the MGNREGA scheme and bring every deserving farmer and labourer within its ambit.  

The cricketer-turned-politician said the lack of specialist doctors and teachers in the district had come to light and added that the needful would soon be done. He added that besides building new buildings for the schools, the old ones would also be repaired.  

Sidhu said the suggestion to start recruiting at the district-level to tackle the problem of shortage of teachers in the border areas would be considered seriously. Interacting with reporters, he said the people of the state would be provided with a clean administration following the decade-long "misrule" of the previous SAD-BJP government.  

The minister said paddy procurement was going on smoothly across the state under the guidance of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the payments were being made online to the farmers within 48 hours of their produce being purchased.  

He said the state government was serious about solving the problem being faced by the farmers in taking care of the stubble and added that in due course, a solution to it would be found. PTI