Bullock carts would soon make a comeback in Punjab’s historic Kila Raipur rural sports. For, the Punjab Cabinet on Sunday gave its nod to enact a law that will pave the way for the revival of traditional annual bullock cart races.
The decision comes after the Cabinet maintained that the rural sports also enrich the cultural heritage and tradition of Punjab, while being a great source of entertainment, especially for rural Punjab. For the past four years, there have been no bullock cart races at Kila Raipur Sports Festival, popularly known as ‘mini or rural Olympics’, held in Ludhiana.
To pave way for resumption of bullock cart races, the State Government has decided to bring in ‘Prevention of Cruelty Animal (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2019’ to amend the Central Act 59 of 1960.
The Cabinet gave green signal to present the Bill, in the ongoing budget session of the Punjab Assembly for enactment.
“Bullock cart races had been an integral part of the state's rich cultural legacy and heritage, till they were prohibited by the Supreme Court in 2014. Subsequently, various representations were received from time-to-time by the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Animal Husbandry Minister to allow bullock cart races,” said the government spokesperson.
“The State Cabinet, in its meeting on October last year, had detailed deliberations and favoured a law to legally allow Kila Raipur sports, in which various animals also participate,” said the spokesperson.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (Central Act 59 of 1960) was enacted to prevent the infliction of unnecessary cruelty and suffering on animals. “The Act also recognises the need to exempt the application of its provisions in certain circumstances,” added the spokesperson.
CABINET OKAYS COMPETITIVE ONLINE BIDDING FOR PROCUREMENT
Bringing further efficiency and transparency in procurement of food grains operations in the state, the Punjab Cabinet gave its nod to “The Punjab Food Grains Transportation Policy 2019-20” for transportation of food grains from mandis to its storage points at minimum rates through competitive tenders from various transporters.
As per the decision, transportation of food grains beyond eight kilometers (KMs) would be allowed through a competitive online tender process for the ensuing season, commencing from April 1.
“This would be done by district tender committees, of which the respective Deputy Commissioners would be the chairpersons, with district FCI head, district heads of all state procurement agencies and district Controller of Food Supplies as members. The tenders under this policy would be invited for the financial year 2019-20 and would be valid for the period from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020,” said the spokesperson.
To ascertain competitive rates, detailed Schedule of Rate (SOR) guidelines have been incorporated in the policy, listing out rates per MT from more than eight kms up to 52 kms.
“For every additional km beyond 52 kms, a rate of Rs 3.10 per ton per kilometer would be applied. No premium beyond 120 percent of rates mentioned in SOR shall be permissible in any case. The powers to open the tenders, evaluation of technical bids and finalisation of the financial bid shall lie with these Committees,” said the spokesperson.
Giving details about the tendering process, the spokesperson said to ensure minimum expenditure on transportation of food grains, tenders would be invited cluster wise.
The detailed procedure regarding service of notice, cancellation of work, levy of penalty and blacklisting has been made part of the policy this year. District Tender Committees have been given the right to blacklist deficient contractor up to a period of two years, besides forfeiture of security and levying of penalty up to two percent of the contract value, depending on the merit of each case.
PUNJAB TO FILL 153 DIRECT QUOTA POSTS OF TEACHING FACULTY IN GOVT MEDICAL COLLEGES
Cabinet approved filling up of 153 vacant sanctioned direct quota posts of 42 professors, 46 associate professors and 65 assistant professors in the Government Medical Colleges at Amritsar and Patiala.
The vacancies would be filled up by the departmental selection committee headed by former PGIMER director Dr KK Talwar. This will be done under the Punjab Medical Education (Group-A) Service Rules, 2016, after taking these posts out of the purview of the Punjab Public Service Commission.
Dr Talwar panel reviewed the strength of entire staff and proposed restructuring. A total of 46 direct quota posts were created, on account of proposed super-specialty departments, enhancement in MBBS seats and increase in bed strength in two hospitals. Consequently, the Medical Education and Research was allowed to fill up these 153 posts by Dr Talwar Committee.
The Committee also recommended that since it was unlikely that all posts would be filled up in one attempt, the Department of Medical Education and Research may, therefore, be allowed to make repeated attempts till these posts were filled up.
The committee also recommended that vacancies arising in future on account of retirement, may be allowed to be filled up without approaching the Finance Department and Officers Committee for their approval.
