Bhagwant Mann promises to turn state into ‘Rangla Punjab’
Chandigarh/New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday listed out the achievements of the AAP government on its first anniversary and promised to accelerate the state’s progress to turn it into ‘Rangla Punjab’.
Mann said that his government will now “shift to the second gear of progress” and raise the standard of living of the poor. He also said the AAP government will start Schools of Eminence for students.
“Since we did so much work in the first year, we will now shift to the second gear of progress. Big industrialists are keen to invest in Punjab, they will set up their units and it will create jobs,” the chief minister said in a video message.
“Our motive is not (to form) the next government. Generally, parties start looking at how their next government will be formed. We are saying people have made the government. Our priority is to take our next generation forward and raise the standard of living of the poor,” Mann said.
AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Twitter that many of the promises made to the people of Punjab have been fulfilled in the first year of his party’s government in the state and other promises will be fulfilled in the coming years.
“On this day a year ago, the new hopes of the people of Punjab had taken oath. Punjab’s hope on AAP has now become a trust,” he tweeted in Hindi.
“Many promises made to the public have been fulfilled in this one year, some will be fulfilled in the coming years. We will fulfill each and every promise made to the people of Punjab in five years,” Kejriwal said, adding, “We will make Rangla (vibrant) Punjab.”
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly election, the Aam Aadmi Party won 92 of the total 117 seats.
“Within one year, we gave 26,797 government jobs,” Mann said, adding 87 per cent of the households in the state got zero electricity bills. He also said that a decision to regularise the services of 14,000 temporary employees in the education department and 14,000 in other departments has been taken.
Services of outsourced employees will also be regularised after removing “legal hurdles”, he said.
Asserting that his government was working towards turning the state into a ‘Rangla (vibrant) Punjab’, Mann said, “If you have shown faith in me and then keep the faith. I will never break your faith.”
The chief minister said that his government will start a “very big campaign” against drugs.
On the agriculture front, Mann said his government gave MSP on ‘moong’ crop and Rs 1,500 per acre for promoting direct seeding of rice and also cleared sugarcane dues of Rs 392 crore.
