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.
The SYL canal, the major portions of which were completed in the 1990s at a cost of over Rs 750 crore, is entangled in a political and legal quagmire with Punjab and Haryana unwilling to give up their respective stands on the controversial canal issue and sharing of river water.
At the oath-taking venue, three podiums were set up on the stage. While the Governor and Mann were on the central podium, the second was occupied by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet, and the third by AAP's 91 legislators.
A day earlier, Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs Sidhu in Punjab, Ganesh Godiyal in Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar Lallu in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chodankar in Goa and Nameirakpam Loken Singh in Manipur to resign. Sidhu, once a Chief Minister aspirant, faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East) seat.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the family members, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that on March 10, a protected witness in the case had been attacked and the state government did not file an appeal challenging the bail granted to Misra in the case.
The SAD also announced the expulsion of Kalka from the primary membership of the party, besides dissolving the party's Delhi unit. It also announced the formation of a five-member ad hoc committee headed by veteran leader Avtar Singh Hit, and comprising Harinder Singh Kaypee, Bhupinder Singh Anand, Gurdev Singh Bhola, and Ravinder Singh Khurana.
In December last year, the Supreme Court had said it expects a fair investigation and investigating agencies should be neutral, as it asked Delhi Police to conclude the probe, by December 15, in a case against Singh.
