Its curtains down for the much-touted ‘Guardians of Governance’ scheme — a brainchild of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The scheme was among the first few decisions and initiatives taken by the Congress Government after it came to power in 2017.
Under the scheme, the government intended to set up a monitoring mechanism by engaging the ex-servicemen to ensure efficient and effective implementation of government schemes at the grass root level. However, the State Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Friday decided to “scrap” the flagship scheme because of its “unsatisfactory performance of previous years in monitoring the assigned schemes of few Departments”.
“The scheme was launched in 2017 by the Punjab Government with the objective of monitoring schemes of few Departments at the grass root level in an efficient and effective manner. But, as the basic purpose of the scheme has been defeated, so the Guardians of Governance (GOG) Scheme has been closed with immediate effect,” said the government spokesperson after the Cabinet meeting.
Spokesperson said that the Cabinet, considering the unsatisfactory performance of previous years in monitoring the assigned schemes of few Departments, has decided to do away with the scheme in the State “in larger public interest”.
Over these years, a network of 4300 ex-servicemen was set up across Punjab. However, its functioning became ineffective, especially after Capt Amarinder stepped down as Chief Minister in September 2021. With him, Senior Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Lieutenant General TS Shergill, who was heading the scheme, too resigned.
A senior government official, requesting anonymity, told The Pioneer that GoGs proved very beneficial in various fields over these years, especially during COVID outbreak. “This team of ex-servicemen came forward, helped in distributing ration, managing rush in mandis during procurement season during COVID…Besides, a good network of sincere ex-servicemen was developed which actually helped the government to monitor various schemes and projects,” said the official.
The official maintained that there was a proposal to take the advantage of this already-developed network of dedicated ex-soldiers, which could not be materialised.
Under the scheme, the GoGs were entitled to monthly honorarium, having office spaces in government buildings, staff and other provisions. Their monthly honorarium is Rs 11,000 for each jawan, Rs 13,000 for supervisor, Rs 25,000 for tehsil heads, and Rs 45,000 for the district heads.
“The former Chief Minister’s idea was to give a major responsibility to the ex-servicemen, while giving them pride and privilege to work for the society, to ensure that each and every penny sanctioned by the State Government was fully utilized for the well being of the general public,” said the official.
Ex-servicemen protest scrapping of GoG scheme
hussianwala
Ex-servicemen on Thursday took out a protest march against the Punjab government for scrapping guardians of governance (GoG) scheme.
Two ex-servicemen suffered minor burn injuries while burning an effigy of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann outside the mini-secretariat as they were standing close to the effigy. However, the fire was extinguished by the protesting ex-servicemen.
Col (retd) H S Kahlon,Vrc district Ludhiana president of GoG, said, “While scrapping the scheme, AAP government spoke in a derogatory manner about GoGs. Hence, they have disrespected all the ex-Army persons. Protests are being carried out in different cities of Punjab and on Thursday we did it in Ludhiana. We will continue our agitation against the Punjab CM and the AAP government for their views about ex-servicemen.”