DW BUREAU / Chandigarh On the directives of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to give major push to resume infrastructural works in rural and urban sectors besides ensuring social security, the Finance Department (FD) on Wednesday has released Rs.1,118 crores. Meanwhile, the salaries of all government employees have also been released on time despite the financial crisis in the wake of COVID-19. Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said that Rs.735 crore has been released towards the grant of 14th Finance Commission to Rural Development & Panchayats department to ensure holistic development of the state. Apart from this, another Rs. 300 crore would be released soon making the first instalment of Rs.1035 crore under second phase of Smart Village Campaign having total size of Rs.3040 crore. It may be recalled that the Punjab Cabinet on May 27 has decided to converge funds under its various flagship programmes to pursue its 2020-2022 Strategy for Rural Transformation to alleviate the sufferings of the people in rural areas, and to secure their lives and livelihood in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. To give further impetus to the rural development, 1.30 lakh works with an outlay of Rs.650 crore in all the villages would be taken up under MGNREGA in two tranches of 65,000 each to generate enormous employment potential during this year for the poor and needy to sustain in these trying circumstances of coronavirus pandemic. This pro-poor initiative would go a long way in mitigating the woes of beleaguered section of the society, which is already grappling with extreme hardships in this difficult phase. Notably, 47,000 works to be executed under MGNREGA worth Rs.250 crore have already been approved for employment generation. Likewise, the Finance Department has also released a sum of Rs.150 crore on account of power subsidy to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), Rs. 187 crore for social security pensions and Rs. 46 crore for grant in aid to Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) for execution of various development works in urban areas. (editor@dailyworld.in)