Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann: 3,000 AI-enabled cameras to be installed at Indo-Pak border

Tribune News Service

Phillaur/Hoshiarpur, Aug 6

Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Tuesday said that around 3,000 AI-enabled cameras would be installed at the borders for keeping a check on smuggling of drugs, weapons and other items.

Targets Badal

He (Sukhbir Badal) is trying to mislead the people through his political gimmicks. Apology may be given for the misdeeds, but sins are unpardonable. My government is gathering evidence about the sacrilege incidents and the real culprits will be behind bars soon. — Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister

Mann said this at a function held to distribute appointment letters to 443 officers in police, Law and Justice and Home Affairs Departments at the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur.

He said the focus was on modernising the police force and Rs 45 crore had already been sanctioned for introducing AI in policing.

The CM said the state government would soon recruit 10,000 more cops for which a notification had already been issued. He said 44,250 government jobs had already been given to the youth so far.

“Till now, 19 toll plazas have been closed in the state, including the two that were shut yesterday night,” he said. The commuters would save around Rs 63 lakh daily due to the closing of these toll plazas, he added.

The CM said that for the first time, 410 hi-tech vehicles had been given to the SHOs. He said the Sadak Surakhya Force had got a fleet of 144 vehicles in the first phase. Over 1,000 lives had been saved by the force since its launch in February, he added.

Addressing a state-level function to mark Van Mahotsav at Hoshiarpur, the CM launched a Rs 45-crore carbon credit scheme. He said the project had been launched with the help of TERI. As a pilot project, 3,686 farmers from across the state would be given the amount in four instalments. Mann also distributed cheques worth Rs 1.75 crore to 818 farmers of Hoshiarpur district as the first instalment under the scheme. The CM said these funds would be transferred to the farmers through the direct benefit scheme.

The CM said when he assumed the charge of office only 21 per cent canal water was being used for irrigation which had now increased to 72 per cent. Mann said the 150-km-long New Kandi Canal was being constructed at a cost of Rs 2,300 crore. It would help irrigate 11,000 acres. A 206-MW dam would also be established at Dhar Kalan.

Mann hit out at former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal saying, “He is trying to mislead the people through his political gimmicks. Apology may be given for the misdeeds, but sins are unpardonable. My government is gathering evidence about the sacrilege incidents and the real culprits will be behind bars soon.”