CM SEEKS UNIT TO MAKE LIGHT COMBAT VEHICLES

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Captain Am arin der Singh has written to the ministry of defence to set up a light combat vehicles (LCVs) manufacturing unit in Punjab, with the assurance that his government would extend all support, including land allocation, for such a project.

In a letter to Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the CM said the unit would not only go a long way in promoting the establishment of ancillary units but also help provide jobs to the unemployed youth in the state. Further, the proposed project would help make LCVs readily available to the forces on the border, he said. The CM drew Sitharaman’s attention to the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017, recently launched by the state government, with many incentives for the industry. The policy, he said, was a holistic framework for the sustainable industrial growth.

BLUE CARDS OUT, GOVT BRING SINE-POS

The CM announced that his government’ s decision to cover the entire state with the electronic point of sale (e-POS) system by March 31.

He said it would eliminate “widespread corruption linked to the controversial blue ration cards”. The decision, he said, is aimed at bringing transparency and accountability in the Public Distribution System (PDS), after a review meeting of the department of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs .“The move will help weed out all the bogus beneficiaries who were issued ration cards, thus ensuring fair distribution of ration to the eligible and genuine beneficiaries through the fair prices shops in the state ,“he added. It will also facilitate social audit of pro-poor schemes, to ensure that correct beneficiaries get allocation.