The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved free bus travel for all candidates appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on June 21 and a day prior and post the examination.
Further, one attendant each can travel for free with candidates in PUNBUS, PRTC and Punjab Roadways. As a result, a total of 56,000 persons, including 28,000 aspirants, can use public transport for free between June 20 and 22. The decision was taken at the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.
Transport and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “The NEET aspirants have been left in the lurch by the BJP, which continues to play with their future. Ever since the BJP assumed the reins of the country, there have been 29 paper leaks.”
The cabinet gave its nod to fill 156 posts of Junior Engineers (Civil and Electrical wings) in the Public Works Department. The council of ministers okayed age relaxation of five years for the 1,013 posts of lecturers in the Education Department. These lecturers are to be recruited for 12 subjects.
With monsoon round the corner, the cabinet gave nod to allot tenders for desilting of rivers even if a single bidder applied for the job. “This is being done to expedite the desilting work before the onset of monsoon,” said Cheema.
The cabinet also approved establishment of wet waste-based compressed biogas projects in Patiala and Jalandhar of 100 TGPD capacity each, besides making amendments to the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2026, which will allow fiscal incentives to be given to all existing industrial units and not just the MSMEs.
Policy to protect investors
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said the Punjab Government would formulate a policy to resolve issues faced by citizens who had invested in unauthorised colonies.
He said thousands of gullible buyers were suffering because of developers who sold plots in unauthorized colonies and left people to face legal and infrastructural problems.
“Thousands of innocent families invested their life savings to buy property. Later, they discovered that they could neither sell the land nor get registries done. They were also deprived of basic facilities such as electricity, water and drain network. Such investors deserve justice,” CM Mann said.
“Fraudulent colonisers lured people with attractive brochures and false promises. They sold plots, pocketed the profits and walked away, leaving ordinary citizens to deal with the consequences. At the time of sale, they concealed the fact that electricity meters, roads and sewerage could not be sanctioned in these colonies,” he said.
