INVC,
Amritsar,
- Administers Oath To Newly Elected Panches And Sarpanchs At Amristar
- Punjab To Be Power Surplus State Soon
- State government committed to protect interest of punjabi Farmers info gujarat
- Assails Union Government For Failure To Check Drug Trafficking
- Demand For New States Due To Discrimination Of Centre
- Majithia Congratulates Cm And Deputy Cm For Free And Fair Panchayat Polls
- Demands Equal Share Of Development Funds For Every State
Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today said that the state government would soon widen the ambit of Atta-Dal scheme by doubling the number of beneficiaries of this scheme from current 15 lakh to 30 lakh people. Addressing a mammoth gathering at a function organized to administer the oath to newly elected Panchs and Sarpanchs here today, the Chief Minister, while reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to ensure the well being of the weaker and downtrodden sections of the society, said that this decision has been taken for facilitating more and more number of people to get subsidized food grains. He said that even in future the state government would provide Atta-Dal to the beneficiaries at much more cheaper rates than the existing Rs 4 and Rs 20 for per kilogram of Atta and Dal respectively. Mr. Badal categorically said that the sole aim of extending this scheme was to ensure that not even a single person should starve in the state. Congratulating the newly elected Panchs and Sarpanchs of the villages, the Chief Minister said that by electing them people of villages have entrusted them a huge responsibility of ushering in an era of unparalleled development in the state. He said that the Panches and Sarpanches should join hands with the state government for this herculean task by effectively monitoring the ongoing development works in the rural areas of the state. “On this solemn occasion every one of us should take the pledge to take the state on the zenith of development process by ensuring sustainable development in every sector”, Mr. Badal added. The Chief Minster further said that owing to the stupendous efforts of the state government Punjab would soon become a Power Surplus state. Likewise he said that all the villages of the state would be soon provided the potable drinking water adding that 1507 RO System would be soon installed in the villages. In the same manner Mr. Badal said that Rs 349 crore would be spent on the cleaning of Ponds in the villages. The Chief Minister called upon the farmers to adopt crop diversification for preventing the further depletion of precious resources of state on one hand and to supplement their income on the other. He said that due the escalating costs of agriculture inputs and declining margins of profit, farming was no longer a profitable venture. Moreover Mr. Badal said that with the Union government drawing its foot back from purchasing the paddy, it was the need of the hour that Punjab farmers should adopt crop diversification. The Chief Minister said that with the stupendous hike in the Price of petrol and diesel along with other farming inputs, the beleaguered peasantry of the state was reeling under a heavy debt of Rs 32000 crore. He said that in this crucial hour it was the moral duty of the state government to bail them out by giving them free power. Mr. Badal said that though the state was incurring an additional burden Rs 5000 crore per year for giving free power to the farmers but it was nothing before the valuable contribution made by the peasantry in making the country self reliant in food production. Earlier in his address the Revenue and Information & Public Relation Minister, Punjab, Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia congratulated the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal for strengthening the democracy at the grass root level by conducting free and fair Panchayat polls in the state. Mr. Majithia said that it was on record that every initiative aimed at welfare of the people, whether it was starting of Atta-Dal, Pension or Shagun scheme, had been taken only during the regime of Mr. Badal. He said that even the food security ordinance which has been brought by the Union government was a copied act of SAD-BJP government, which had started this scheme about seven years ago. Batting for the enactment of comprehensive need based scheme for the states, Mr, Majithia said that only such a formula could ensure balanced regional development in the country. He said that it was the need of hour that every state was given equal share of funds for development without any political considerations. The Minister while congratulating the newly elected Sarpanches and Panches called upon them to work whole heartedly for the development of the rural areas. Later on talking to the media persons, the Chief Minister said that he would take up the matter of displacement of Punjabi farmers in the Kutch region of Gujarat, with the Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. Mr. Badal further said that the state government would take every possible step to protect the interests of the Punjabis living in Gujarat. Lashing out at the centre for its failure to check the supply of drugs from Pakistan border, the Chief Minister said that despite of the fact that he had taken this issue at the highest level in the Government of India (GoI), the centre has miserably failed to act on it. He said that the worst thing was that the Union government was not also banning open sale of poppy husk in Rajasthan, which was proving bane for Punjab. When asked about the rising demand of formation of new states in the country, the Chief Minister said that the main reason for surge in this demand was the discrimination of centre in ensuring the development of states. Mr. Badal said that formation of Telangana state was a welcome step adding that centre should also consider the demands of smaller states sympathetically. He further said that with the centralization of powers by the union government the Federal structure of country has turned into unitary one due to which the state governments have virtually became beggars. Reiterating that only Punjab has legitimate right over capital city of Chandigarh, the Chief Minister said that the Congress has done grave injustice with the state by depriving it from capital despite of the
fact that the parent state has the first and foremost right over capital. The Chief Minister was accompanied by Cabinet Ministers Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Mr. Gulzar Singh Ranike, Mr. Surjit Singh Rakhra and Mr. Anil Joshi, Lok Sabha MP Dr. Rattan Singh Ajnala, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Mr. IS Bularia and Mr. Amarpal Singh Bonny, MLAs Mr. Manjeet Singh Manna and Mr. Baljeet Singh Jalal Usma, Special Principal Secreatry to Chief Minister Mr. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and Director Rural Development Mr. Raj Kamal Chaudhary.
