Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 21

A month after Capt Amarinder Singh took oath as Chief Minister, the Ex-Servicemen Cell — promised by him to redress issues concerning defence veterans — has become functional.

The cell, part of the Chief Minister’s Office, will be headed by Capt Amarinder.

His senior adviser Lt Gen TS Shergil (retd) is the cell’s senior vice-chairman and Maj Gen SPS Grewal is the vice-chairman.“The notification for the cell was issued yesterday and it is mandated to look into all government schemes concerning ex-servicemen,” Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Secretary Defence Services Welfare (SDSW), Punjab said. “The cell’s scope may be widened in time to cover other aspects listed in the party’s election manifesto.” Other members include Director, Defence Services Welfare; Director, Punjab Ex-Servicemen Corporation; Director, Centre for Training and Employment of Punjab Youth; and Director, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration (MGIPA), Chandigarh. The SDSW will be the member-secretary.The cell will also supervise the implementation of the Guardians of Governance (GoG) scheme that envisions deploying ex-servicemen to oversee the implementation of government schemes and to keep a watch on the working of officials at the grassroots level.In the coming weeks, MGIPA will train about 12,000 ex-servicemen who are to be enrolled for the GoG. Each veteran enrolled under the scheme: who should not be a member of any political party, should not be engaged in any full-time employment, have a clean record, be physically fit to move around and able to operate a smart phone will be required to undergo a five-day training programme that would be held at the district level. “We expect the GoG to be functional by July 1, by which time we would have recruited and trained the people involved,” Gurkirat said.