Govt Administration Sukhu

Govt Committed To Providing Transparent, Responsive, Accountable Administration: Sukhu

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday said that the state government is committed to providing a transparent, responsive, and accountable administration to the people of the state.

While addressing a huge rally ‘Jan Aabhar Rally’ organized at Zorawar Stadium in Dharamshala, CM Sukhu expressed gratitude to the people of Kangra district for their massive mandate in favour of the Congress Party in the recently held assembly elections.
Incidentally, this is the first visit of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to the district after becoming the Chief Minister of the State.

The Chief Minister said that the present State Government was here not to enjoy power, but for bringing a change in the system.

He said that after being sworn in as Chief Minister of the State, he visited the Girl Child Care Institute, Tutikandi in Shimla, and felt that a lot more is required to be done for the destitute children, women, and senior citizens.

“We have decided to set up ‘Chief Minister’s Sukhashray Sahayata Kosh’ with an outlay of Rs 101 crore so that it can meet the basic educational facilities of the children and destitute women,” he added.

He also attacked the BJP government and said that it opened 900 institutions in different parts of the state without any budgetary provisions

“This was simply done to lure the people and with an eye on assembly elections, haphazard announcements were made. The present State Government cracked a big paper scam going on since the tenure of the BJP Government in the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission, Hamirpur, which had become a den of selling question papers,” he said.

CM Sukhu said that the State Government would implement all the ten guarantees as promised in the congress manifesto during assembly elections in a phased manner,

“The Government will implement Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in its first cabinet. Besides, a decision to provide Rs. 1500 to the women in the age group of 18 to 60 years would also be taken soon,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, while addressing the audience took a jibe at BJP leaders and remarked that it seems that these leaders were finding it difficult to digest, and defeat and thus were issuing baseless statements.

“The State Government in the last about 21 days of its tenure has taken some historic decisions. Rs 101 crore ‘Chief Minister Sukhashray Sahayata Kosh’ has been established to ensure that lesser privileged children can get adequate financial assistance for higher education as per their choice,” he said.

Member of Parliament and State Congress President, Pratibha Singh thanked the people of the state for their wholehearted support in the assembly elections.

“It was due to the support and love of the people that the Congress Party was able to form the Government in the State, she said. The party organization and the State Government would work with complete unison to ensure that the pace of development gets added vigour so that Himachal can emerge as a model State in the matter of development,” she said. (ANI)

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AQI Delhi

Govt Revokes Ban On Construction Activity In Delhi

The Union government panel that recommends steps to control pollution in the national capital region has revoked actions under the graded response action plan (GRAP) stage III with immediate effect, because of a noteworthy fall in pollution.

Stage III of GRAP means a ban on all construction activities except those of national importance.

The Sub-Committee for invoking actions under GRAP of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) held a meeting today to review the situation and take the appropriate call in view of noteworthy improvement in the overall air quality of Delhi witnessed in the last few days with a fall of more than 100 points in the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) since the last invocation of Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) on December 4.

“While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR, the Commission noted that due to forecasts by IMD/ IITM not indicating the overall AQI of Delhi to slip into the “Severe” category in the next few days and as it is likely to fluctuate between ‘Poor’ to ‘Very Poor’ category, it is advisable to relax the restrictions and further roll back Stage-III of the GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR,” the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement.

The GRAP Sub-Committee in its earlier meetings had invoked actions under Stage-I, Stage-II, Stage-III, and Stage-IV of the GRAP in the entire NCR on October 5, October 19, October 29, and November 3 respectively.

Further, Sub-Committee in its review meeting revoked the actions under Stage-IV (‘Severe+’ Air Quality) of GRAP on December 6 and revoked Stage-III (‘Severe’ Air Quality) of GRAP on November 14 after considering the improvement in the air quality of Delhi and AQI forecasts of subsequent days.

Stage III of the GRAP was again invoked in the entire Delhi-NCR on December 4 after the sudden increase in the overall AQI of Delhi.

The Ministry further said that The Sub-Committee in its meeting today comprehensively reviewed the air quality scenario in the region as well as the IMD/IITM forecasts for meteorological conditions and the air quality index of Delhi and observed that the overall AQI of Delhi has been progressively improving with 407 recorded on December 4; 347 on December 5; 353 on December 6; and 304 recorded today which is below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-III actions (Delhi AQI 401-450).

Further, the AQI is seeing a downward trend with favorable improvement in the average AQI as well. Preventive/ mitigative/ restrictive actions under all Stages up to Stage II are already underway and the forecasts by IMD/ IITM also do not indicate the AQI to fall in the ‘Severe’ category in the next few days.

Further, actions under Stage-I to Stage-II of the GRAP shall however remain invoked and be implemented, intensified, monitored, and reviewed by all agencies concerned in the entire NCR to ensure that the AQI levels do not slip further to the ‘Severe’ category.

All implementing agencies shall keep strict vigil and especially intensify measures under Stages I and II of GRAP which include the

Mechanical/vacuum-based sweeping of roads to be carried out on a daily basis.

Ensure water sprinkling along with the use of dust suppressants regularly on roads to arrest road dust, especially at hotspots, heavy traffic corridors, and vulnerable areas (before peak hours), and proper disposal of dust collected in designated sites/landfills.

Regular inspection and strict enforcement of dust control measures at Construction & Demolition (C&D) sites and enforcement of direction on the use of Ani-Smog guns.

Do not allow coal/firewood including in Tandoors in Hotels, Restaurants, and open eateries.

Ensure hotels, restaurants and open eateries use only electricity/ clean fuel gas-based appliances.

Enhance Parking fees to discourage private transport.

Regulated use of DG Sets except for the emergent and essential services.

C&D project sites and industrial units which have been issued specific closure orders on account of violations/ non-compliances with various statutory directions, rules, guidelines, etc. under no circumstances shall resume their operations without any specific order to this effect from the Commission.

Further, the Commission has once again appealed to the citizens of NCR to cooperate in implementing GRAP and follow the steps mentioned in the Citizen Charter under the GRAP.

Citizens are advised to use public transport and minimize the use of personal vehicles.

Regularly replace air filters at recommended intervals in your automobiles. Avoid dust-generating construction activities.

Various agencies responsible for implementing measures under GRAP and Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) of NCR and DPCC have also been advised to ensure strict implementation of actions of Stage I and Stage II under GRAP in the NCR.

Further, the Commission is closely watching the situation and will review the air quality scenario accordingly, the ministry statement read. (ANI)

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