Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Three days after the Cabinet passed the draft of the Punjab Lokayukta Bill 2020, the legislation was not tabled in the House even as the Budget session came to an end today.
The government had announced to give more teeth to the Punjab Lokpal by amending the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, covering all levels of public functionaries up to the Chief Minister. It was one of the promises made by the Congress ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections.
Bills passed
Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Bill
Punjab Management and Transfer of Municipal Properties Bill
Punjab Prisons Development Board Bill
Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Amendment Bill
Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill
The Vidhan Sabha today passed five Bills. Of the two crucial Bills passed, one is related to giving ownership rights to illegal squatters on commercial and residential properties of municipal bodies and improvement trusts and the other to give propriety rights to slum dwellers.
Local Bodies Minister Brahm Mohindra, who tabled the Punjab Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2020, said it was landmark legislation aimed at giving an opportunity to the slum dwellers in occupation of government land to own a house.
A slum area redevelopment and rehabilitation committee would be constituted for each urban area to give beneficiaries the right to own house. The beneficiaries would be allotted land, varying between 30 sq m and 60 sq m.
The House also passed the Punjab Management and Transfer of Municipal Properties Bill.
Under this Bill, of incentives have been offered to illegal squatters across the state on certain payment. It gives ownership rights to tenants who have been occupying properties for more than 12 years.
Mohindra said a majority of such properties were leased out to tenants by municipal bodies for a fixed term. But the tenants continued to hold on to the properties for one or the other reason.
The legislation allows transfer of commercial properties through auction and residential through allotment or draw of lots.
In case of residential properties, the government has decided that for EWS with an annual income of not more than Rs3 lakh, the propriety rights would be offered at the rate of 12.5 per cent of the collector rate. For low income group with an annual income of more than Rs8 lakh and less than Rs15 lakh, the allotment would be done at the rate of 50 per cent of the collector rate and those in the high income group (more than Rs15 lakh), the allotment would be done at the prevailing collector rate.
The Assembly also passed the Punjab Prisons Development Board Bill.
Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa said the legislation aimed at reducing the financial liability by identifying new means of revenue generation, undertaking educational, vocational and industrial training, and manufacturing activities, enhancing living conditions of prisoners, reforming prisoners, providing resources for efficient management of prisons and ensuring welfare of officers of the Prisons Department.
On the issue of poor condition of jails raised by LIP MLA Simarjit Bains and AAP MLA Sarvjit Manuke, Randhawa said there were a lot of problem in jails. The earning by the board would be used to mitigate these.
