Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday claimed that his government has fulfilled all the pre-poll “guarantees” within four years through what he described as the “politics of work,” adding that the trust shown by the people after rejecting Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP has been honoured.
“I am a Chief Minister who works the most,” said Mann.
He was addressing mediapersons on the completion of four years of the AAP government. He also released a booklet — ‘Shandar Char Saal, Bhagwant Mann De Naal — on his government’s achievements so far.
“Punjab is moving on the path of progress. We have started a new tradition in politics by completing all promises in four years, whereas others parties were not able to do so even in five years,” Mann said, as he highlighted his government’s key achievements including providing 300 units of free electricity to domestic consumers, providing electricity to farmers during the daytime, opening of ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ and cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh under Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna.
He said, under the AAP government, canal irrigation has reached 78 per cent of fields, while 65,000 government jobs were given and 5.5 lakh employment opportunities generated.
Mann said, after the AAP assumed power in 2022, the opposition raised questions over the free electricity promised to the households. “We fulfilled our first poll promise within three months,”he said, adding that almost 90 per cent of the households are getting free electricity, which translates to the monthly relief of Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per household.
He said for the first time farmers are receiving eight hours of uninterrupted daytime electricity for irrigation. “A total of 18,349 long-neglected canals have been revived, bringing irrigation water back to farmers’ fields,” he added.
Story continues below this ad
He also spoke about resumption of coal supply from Pachwara coal mine and buying a 540 MW private power plant at an outlay of Rs 1,080 crore.
Mann said his government set up 881 Aam Aadmi Clinics while another 200 would come up soon. The number of OPD visits in these clinics has crossed 5 crore, indicating people’s trust in their services.
The chief minister further said his government started Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna under which cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh will be provided to every family.
Referring to the setting up of ‘Sadak Surkhya Force’, Mann said with this, there is a drop of 50 per cent in road accident deaths in the state. He added that more than 47,000 people have received timely assistance during road accidents.
Story continues below this ad
“Seven new medical colleges are being built in Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Sangrur, SBS Nagar, Lehragaga, Malerkotla and Ludhiana,” he said, adding that the state will have around 600 new MBBS seats. “The largest recruitment of doctors in Punjab’s history has taken place in government hospitals and in the last four years 1,575 doctors have been recruited.”
On law and order, Mann said: “The Punjab government launched ‘Gangsteraan Te Vaar’ and ‘Operation Prahar’ to ensure that organised gangs are not able to operate from the soil of Punjab.” So far 44,424 raids have been carried out by teams of 12,000 policemen, which have led to the arrest of 14,722 gangsters, including 711 proclaimed offenders, the chief minister said, adding, “Under Yudh Nashean Virudh decisive and unprecedented action has been taken against drug traffickers.”
Highlighting welfare schemes, Mann said the government has launched Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojna, under which women receive financial assistance directly in their bank accounts. He also noted that millions of women benefit from free bus travel every year. He further said pension schemes have been expanded with lakhs of new beneficiaries added and thousands of anganwadi workers recruited to strengthen social services.
He said more than 40,000 kilometres of rural link roads are being rebuilt, and claimed that this is the biggest road repairing scheme ever undertaken in Punjab’s history in any single year.
Story continues below this ad
“Punjab’s government schools are now ranked number one in the country in studies according to the Government of India’s survey. No child in a government school now sits on the floor,” he said.
“More than 9,000 smart classrooms and 5,000 computer labs have been set up in government schools,” he added.
On the agriculture front, Mann said, Punjab farmers are receiving Rs 416 per quintal for sugarcane, which is the “highest price” in the country. “Farmers received Rs 20,000 per acre compensation for crop loss, which is the highest compensation anywhere in India,” he added.
A total of 1.58 lakh crop residue management machines have been provided to farmers on subsidy to tackle stubble burning, he said.
