DW BUREAU / chandigarh Punjab on Thursday leapfrogged into a new era of development and progress, with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh launching a slew of milestone welfare projects, including free sanitary pads for high school and college girl students in the state. Even as he kickstarted the process of the realization of the dream of owning a home for thousands of slum dwellers, the Chief Minister further powered the state's digital leap with the roll-out of a Rs 75.64 Crore Smart Metering project and an 'e-Daakhil' portal for e-filing of consumer complaints. Youth and the girl child have been earmarked as the beneficiaries of the two other schemes launched virtually by the Chief Minister, dedicated the month of January to the girl child as 'Dheeiyan Di Lohri' and also paved the way for distribution of 2500 sports kits to promote health awareness and sports culture among youngsters. Launching Dheeiyan Di Lohri, the Chief Minister, in a symbolic gesture, blessed five girl children, along with their mothers, with a shagun of Rs.5100 and baby kits for each. They were identified as Nimrat Kaur and her mother Davinder Kaur from village Fatehgarh Block Majri, Jaisvi Bansal and her mother Nistha Bansal from Kurali, Gurleen Kaur and her mother Gurpreet Kaur from village Baroudi in Majri block, Prabhjit Kaur along with her mother Sarabjit Kaur as well as Khushleen Kaur and her mother Sandeep Kaur from village Majra. Under the special scheme, a series of events will be held every day across districts, beginning with Mohali district, through the month to mark the occasion of Lohri, which will see congratulatory letters penned and signed by the Chief Minister being handed over to the parents of more than 1.5 lakh girls celebrating their first Lohri this year. With the launch of the BASERA programme, 2816 slum dwellers in 10 slums of Patiala, Bathinda, Fazilka & Moga districts will get proprietary rights in the first phase. Those living in three slums of Moga will be granted their rights by shifting them to a separate land in Municipal Corporation at Moga Jeet Singh. On this historic occasion, the Chief Minister handed over 'Sanads', thereby conferring proprietary rights to six beneficiaries - Mintu Tandi from Bathinda, Suraj Singh from Moga, Rekha Rani and Paprinder Kumar from Abohar, Bilu and Kailash Kumar from Patiala - in a symbolic step. Launching the Rs 75.64 Crore 3-phase Smart Metering project, the Chief Minister said the consumer-friendly scheme will help reduce human error in manual reading through automatic uploading of data. From January 2021 to December 2021, a total of 96,000 meters will be installed across the state by PSPCL under the project, which will also help to curb the malpractice of reading concealment/theft of electricity and improve the reading/billing efficiency and quality, he said. These meters will enable consumers to view instantaneous/live data as well as the last bill data via PSPCL Consumer App, besides maintaining and regulating power consumption. They will have the option to change meter to prepaid or post-paid. Rebate in tariff is admissible to the consumer under prepaid option and the same meter can be used as a Bidirectional meter for Solar Net metering, said Captain Amarinder Singh. Consumers will not need to visit DISCOM offices to register complaint of wrong meter readings now, he added. The Chief Minister said that the new e-Daakhil portal would help consumers safeguard their rights. It will provide them with an effective mechanism to protect them from exploitation at the hands of traders, and will facilitate them in approaching consumer courts with ease, he said, while launching the portal. Created to enable e-filling of consumer complaints in accordance with the new Consumer Protection Act 2019, which envisages filling of consumer dispute electronically to Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the portal will facilitate online filling of complaints by citizens/advocates. Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said this unique online platform would empower the consumer and protect his interest. He also revealed that with this, the manufacturer would now be held responsible for defective goods. (editor@dailyworld.in)