DW BUREAU / Chandigarh On the directives of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, a campaign was successfully launched by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats during the year 2022 to get rid of illegal possessions and demarcation of Panchayat Lands in the villages and illegal possession have been razed from more than 9389 acres of Panchayat Land during this campaign. Speaking in detail about this initiative, Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that all the old records related to Shamlat Lands were being examined thoroughly due to the strenuous efforts of the Shamlat Cell and examining the records of Shamlat lands of 153 blocks has been accomplished so far. He said that the department has identified such type of 1,39,818 acres of land, which will be used for the welfare of the people in future. Mr. Dhaliwal said that by December 2022, a total of 6206 acres of land under Patiala division has been freed from illegal possessions and handed over to concerned Panchayats for adequate usage. He said that illegal possessions from 1100 acres land of Patiala, 808 acres of Ludhiana, 464 acres of Fatehgarh Sahib, 194 acres of Sangrur, 3469 acres of SAS Nagar, 154 acres of Rupnagar, 8 acres of Barnala and 9 acres of land of Malerkotla have been razed with the help of law enforcement agencies. He said that a total of 507 acres of land under Ferozepur division has been freed from illegal occupation. He further informed that illegal possession razed from 128 acres land of district Ferozepur, 187 acres of Fazilka, 27 acres of Sri Muktsar Sahib, 13 acres of Mansa, 49 acres of Bathinda, 26 acres of Moga and 77 acres of Faridkot. Similarly, illegal possession has been removed from a total of 2676 acres of land falls under Jalandhar division. He said that 609 acres of Gurdaspur, 602 acres of Kapurthala, 264 acres of Amritsar, 239 acres of Jalandhar, 308 acres of Hoshiarpur, 126 acres of Tarn Taran, 228 acres of SBS Nagar and 300 acres land of Pathankot have been freed from illegal occupants. The Minister asserted that Rs. 1017 crore have been disbursed under the MGNREGA scheme during the current year 2022, whereas 248 lakh wage days have been created and 7.72 lakh families got employment under the scheme. He said that 1530 playgrounds will be constructed under the MGNREGA Scheme and work has started on 524 sites after demarcation of 1488 sites. He said that 1725 ponds have been identified as model ponds under the Sanjha Talab Project. Work has started on 1026 sites and work on 504 sites concluded. Mr. Dhaliwal informed that under the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, the Provincial Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Sanstha conducted general meetings of 12,887 Gram Sabhas in June for Rabi season and in December for Kharif season. Similarly, training programs were organized at state, district and block level with the aim of achieving sustainable development goals in view of holistic development at the village level and 6000 Panchayat Representatives have been trained so far under this initiative. Likewise, training programs have also been started for Sarpanches, Panchas and employees of various departments working at the block level and a target has been settling down to train approximately 1 lakh panchayat representatives by 31st March 2023 under this mission. "MANN GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVELY DEALT WITH LUMPY SKIN DISEASE SPREAD IN CATTLE" Punjab government has effectively dealt with the infectious virus, Lumpy Skin disease, prevalent among cattle in the state. Whereas the government has formed the Group of Ministers (GoM) to closely gauge the current situation and planning future strategies to prevent a revival of LSD in the state, necessary vaccines and medicines were immediately ordered and dedicated teams were formed to provide treatment at the grassroots level so as to ensure the disease can be controlled effectively. Chalking out future strategy, Mann government has also decided to start the mega vaccination drive from February 15, 2023. Animal Husbandry Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar informed that 10 lakh doses of Goat Pox vaccine worth Rs.1.54 crore were airlifted to control the disease and medicines worth Rs.1.37 crore have been provided for the treatment of cattle across the state. He said that around 9.5 lakh cattle were vaccinated with goat pox. The GoM, comprising of Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema, Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Animal Husbandry Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, has directed the officials of Animal Husbandry department to start the vaccination drive from February 15, 2023 and vaccinate the entire 25 lakh cattle population in the state by April 30, 2023. They also directed officials to immediately initiate the process for procuring about 25 lakh doses at cost effective prices from the Veterinary Biological and Research Institute, Hyderabad (Telangana). (editor@dailyworld.in)