Ex-faujis to act as eyes, ears of Capt govt in villages

CHANDIGARH:The Punjab government has decided to engage ex-servicemen in all 13,000 villages of Punjab to give feedback on the governance. They may also be paid some token honorarium.

A brainchild of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the programme is expected to be rolled out by the end of this month after clearance from the cabinet. The programme is said to be a part of the Congress poll manifesto promise to fight corruption.

The state government plans to appoint at least an ex-fauji as the guardian of governance in each village to gather feedback on percolation of state-run schemes to the end users. They will also give feedback on corrupt officials.

“We are making a smartphone application for all the schemes run by the state government with a feedback system, which will be handed over to the select ex-faujis,” Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, additional secretary, defence services welfare.

He said there were about 2-lakh veterans in the state and finding at least one in a village will not be a problem. “In case a village doesn’t have one, we can form a cluster of villages to be covered by an ex-fauji,” he said. The government is also working out some honorarium for such guardians and training to use technology.

Adviser to the chief minister Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd) will lead the programme. He is also finalising the draft of the proposal.