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Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], May 9 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said that corruption poses biggest challenge to the nation.

While speaking at the golden jubilee ceremony of the Nagpur edition of the newspaper Lokmat, he said, "Corruption is the biggest challenge in front of the country and Punjab. The AAP, after coming to power, started an anti-corruption helpline to curb the menace in government offices. It is turning into a success."

The Chief Minister said that his government has already introduced path-breaking initiatives like an anti-corruption helpline, one MLA one pension, financial assistance to farmers adopting direct sowing of paddy and others which will help in the resurgence of the state.

He added that his government will take every step to restore the 'pristine glory' of the state in every field.

"We will give impetus to employment, sports, and industrial growth besides eradicating corruption, unemployment, drugs and pollution from Punjab to make it a frontrunner state in the country," Mann had said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and others were also present at the programme.

The Chief Minister said that his predecessors have looted the state mercilessly due to which the state once known for the vigour of its sons in the Army, sportsmanship of players like the late Dara Singh, and the sweetness of its water has lagged behind.

The Chief Minister, while underscoring the need for new employment opportunities, said that there is a need to replace 'drug syringes' with 'tiffin boxes' to wipe out the drug menace in the state.

He said that any person who is gainfully employed carrying a tiffin box to his office won't have any time for drug syringes. Mann said that within 50 days his government has put the wheels in motion to provide government jobs to youth through a transparent, neutral and merit-based mechanism.

Slamming the political parties for divisive politics, the Chief Minister said, "The nation should unite against such tactics to divide the country. He said that the welfare and development based agenda as propounded by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the only weapon to stop the chariot of divisive politics".

Mann said that it is high time that countrymen must unite to wipe out the parties sowing seed of divisiveness in society.

The Chief Minister said that the political parties that had ruled Punjab had looted it mercilessly even compared to 200 years of the British regime. However, he said that Punjabis have given a whopping mandate to his government and they are committed to putting the state back on a high growth trajectory. (ANI)