Tribune News service

Chandigarh, August 13

After initial hiccups, the Finance Department has finally sanctioned Rs 20 crore for Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s pet project, the Guardians of Governance scheme (GoG).Due to financial constraints, Rs 20 crore was allocated in the Budget against the projected requirement of Rs 100 crore.“With the financial sanction in hand, a fresh advertisement to invite the applications will be released in coming days. Against the initial plan to launch the scheme on August 15, the scheme has been delayed for want of financial sanction. It is now expected to be launched by the end of this month,” said a senior government official.The government plans to initially hire nearly 5,000 ex-servicemen as village-level guardians to oversee the implementation of government programmes and to keep a watch on officials working at the grassroots. In the first phase, the scheme would be launched in eight districts.The scheme would be formally launched with announcement on the honorarium to be given. As per the scheme, ex-servicemen will be enrolled from each of the nearly 12,730 villages of Punjab. “Around 3,000 applications have already been received,” he said.After receiving applications online, district-level boards of serving and retired defence officers will screen these. Those selected will have to undergo a two-week training at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh.The hired ex-servicemen, who will have a smart phone having android software and internet facility, will keep a vigil on the implementation of various development and welfare schemes and report through mobile app daily at village, tehsil, district and state levels.