Dhuri (Punjab), Sep 20 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday began the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) door-to-door election campaign from this town, taking the government’s four-and-a-half-year report card directly to people’s homes and placing ‘Mann Da Munafa’ at the centre of its campaign narrative.
Highlighting the tangible financial benefits of the government’s work, he said every family was receiving an annual benefit of Rs 1.82 lakh through initiatives including free electricity, healthcare, education and Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna.
As people warmly welcomed him during the campaign, the Chief Minister said AAP would go to every household with its record of work since 2022 and keep the campaign positive, focused on what the government has delivered for Punjab. He said the party would seek people’s support on the strength of work delivered on the ground, while questioning the Opposition over its record and the issue of drugs.
During the outreach, CM Mann went door-to-door across Dhuri, meeting families and interacting with people from all walks of life, including elderly residents, women, youngsters and children. He listened to their views, discussed the work undertaken by the government over the past four-and-a-half years and explained how various schemes and initiatives were translating into direct benefits for ordinary households.
Residents warmly welcomed CM Mann, shared their experiences and expressed their appreciation for the work carried out by the government, as he said the same report card would now be taken to every household across Punjab.
Interacting with the people, CM Mann said, “Every family in Punjab is today benefiting by Rs 1.82 lakh annually from the initiatives rolled out by our government. This is not an abstract figure. It represents the money that a household no longer has to take out of its own pocket for electricity, healthcare, education and other essential services. I want every family to sit down and calculate for itself how much it is saving every month. That is the real meaning of ‘Mann Da Munafa’.”
The Chief Minister pointed out his government’s welfare initiatives had reduced the financial burden of essential services on families, allowing them to use their hard-earned money for other household needs. “Free electricity, healthcare, education and Maavan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna are helping people save their hard-earned money. Lakhs of households across Punjab are receiving zero electricity bills, which means that money that earlier went towards electricity charges can now be spent on children, homes and farms. The expansion of primary healthcare has also meant that a fever, a check-up or a basic diagnostic test does not have to force a family to borrow money or dip into its savings,” he said.
He said, “Improvements in government schools have given parents greater confidence to educate their children without the burden of private fees. The philosophy behind these decisions is simple: the common man’s money must be spent on the common man. Public revenue belongs to the people who generate it and must return to them in the form of services they can see, use and feel.”
CM Mann said, “For decades, the people of Punjab paid taxes without receiving facilities in proportion to what they contributed. Our government is working to close that gap by directing resources towards households rather than privilege. ‘Mann Da Munafa’ is a simple question for every family: how much better off is your household today than it was before? Calculate what you save every month, and that answer will speak louder than any campaign speech.”
Turning to rural development, the Chief Minister noted that his government had changed the manner in which resources were being taken to villages and had made village-level development a central part of its approach.
“For the first time in Punjab’s history, every village is receiving crores of rupees from the government for development works. Funds are now flowing to panchayats across the state for streets, drainage, water supply, community buildings, sports grounds, street lighting and other works identified by the villages themselves. The change is not only in the quantum of funds but also in how these funds are being distributed,” he said.
He said, “Every village, regardless of which party it supported, is now being treated as an equal claimant on the state’s resources. The money being spent belongs to all the people of Punjab, not to any party or leader. Rural Punjab was neglected for too long by successive governments that concentrated attention on a handful of constituencies while ignoring the rest. Our approach is to strengthen the village as the basic unit of development.”
CM Mann said the door-to-door campaign would now be taken forward across Punjab, with party workers and candidates presenting the government’s record directly before households. “Our party workers and candidates will now take this message to every constituency. We will talk about the record of savings delivered to families, the development of villages and public money being spent on the public. We have done the work, and that is why today we are coming before the people with our heads held high,” he added.
–IANS
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