Punjab CM receives complaint on corruption helpline
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Mar, 2022 10:27 AM
Chandigarh, March 25 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said he has received a complaint on the newly-launched anti-corruption helpline.
In a tweet, he said: "I received a complaint on our anti-corruption action helpline. Directed the authorities for immediate investigation, those caught asking for bribes will face severe consequences. Corruption won't be tolerated in Punjab now."
The anti-bribery helpline 9501 200 200 has received around 20,000 complaints so far. However, a majority of these do not have an audio or video proof to support their claim.
Asking strong cognizance of the complaints received on the helpline number, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has issued orders to register a case against a clerk of tehsil office in Jalandhar.
AAP spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang and state Joint Secretary Sunny Ahluwalia told the media the government is continuously taking public-friendly decisions and the Chief Minister on Friday making a big change in the formula of pension to the MLAs, announced 'one MLA, one pension' to cut down multiple pensions of MLAs.
Ahluwalia said Mann has taken a historic decision by making a big change in the formula of pensions being received by MLAs and ministers.
Now an MLA will get only one pension. He said the decision of the Punjab government was laudable as the people of Punjab had been demanding for a long time to discontinue multiple pensions of MLAs.
This decision will save the government about Rs 80 crore in five years and this money will be spent for public welfare, Ahluwalia added.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
