Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badalalong with the Governor of Punjab Shivraj V. Patil and other dignitaries receives the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Chandigarh airport on 14-9-2013.
Chandigarh, September 14, 2013: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to declare the project for tackling the menace of water logging in state as ‘National Project’ and immediately release central assistance of Rs 960.62 crore.
Badal called on the Prime Minister here at Punjab Raj Bhawan this afternoon as the latter was in the capital on an official visit. The Chief Minister apprised Dr. Singh that on the request of Punjab Government a team under the Chairmanship of Union Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Ramesh had visited badly affected water logged areas to take stock of the situation. Subsequently a high power committee under the chairmanship of Member, Planning Commission Dr. Mihir Shah, also visited the same region and suggested measures to solve the problem of water logging in the area.
The Chief Minister informed Dr. Singh that keeping in view the suggestions of high power committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, a project amounting to Rs.960.62 crores stands submitted for approval and providing funds under Central Assistance for checking the menace of water logging and salinity and to reclaim fertile land for agriculture production. The anti-water logging measure proposed to be taken was also envisaged to help in improving the environment and reduce the prevailing health hazards. Badal bemoaned that inordinate delay in sanctioning the project has once again pushed the people of south west Punjab to the same miserable condition due to recent rains in August 2013.
The Chief Minister further apprised Dr. Singh that unprecedented rains in the month of September 2011, the worst in a span of last 80 years, submerged large areas of south western Punjab and crops were completely damaged. Besides that, the continuous seepage from the twin canals namely Rajasthan Feeder and Sirhind feeder also increased the water logging problem in the area. All the low lying pockets running through village Abadies as well as agriculture land were filled with 2 to 6 feet depth of flood water. Dewatering arrangements on a large scale were put in place to ameliorate the situation, he added.
Flagging up another issue for seeking the approval of Union Cabinet for the setting up of the Cancer hospital in the state on the lines of Tata Memorial Cancer (TMC) Hospital by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Badal requested the Prime Minister to personally intervene in the matter for putting the prestigious project on fast track. Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister, Badal said that the people of Punjab were extremely grateful to him for recognising the gravity of the problem of cancer in the State and thus giving in principle approval to establish this hospital. Badal informed the Prime Minister that the state Government has already handed over the site identified by DAE, free of cost for this purpose adding he said that all concerned departments have given their concurrence to the proposal, which was all set for the green signal from the Union Cabinet under your leadership. The Chief Minister also urged Dr. Singh to lay the foundation stone of this landmark project.
Reiterating his request to modify the instructions for upward revision in the quantum of relief in cases of natural calamities to make it more meaningful, the Chief Minister brought into the notice of Dr. Singh that he had already taken up this issue for seeking enhancement of relief admissible out of the State Disaster Response Fund in case of 100% loss of crops.
Badal also made a similar request in case of damage to houses, as well as loss of milch animals. He cited currently, the maximum amount of relief in case of complete damage to a house was Rs.70,000 which should be increased to Rs.1.25 lakh, with corresponding enhancement in case of partial damage etc. Similarly, the current guidelines stipulated that relief would be admissible only for the loss of one large milch animal even though many such animals might have been lost. He lamented that the amount of relief was quite inadequate in any case; and to restrict it to one animal caused avoidable hardship to the affected persons.
Seeking his personal intervention, Badal impressed upon the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways/ National Highways Authority of India may be directed to expedite Ludhiana- Delhi expressway by giving it top priority. He informed that fast and secure road highways are emerging as an important factor for investment promotion and industrialization in the country. City of Ludhiana popularly known as “Manchester of India” has developed as a catalyst for further industrialisation in the State. In order to boost further investment and industrialisation, the Chief Minister reminded Dr. Singh that he had been advocating cause of expressway between Ludhiana and Delhi therefore he sought Prime Minister’s personal intervention to give top priority to the project especially in context of Amritsar- Kolkata industrial corridor, construction of Ludhiana-Delhi expressway becomes more imperative.
Responding to the issues raised by the Chief Minister, Dr. Singh assured him of positive outcome. He told Badal that he would soon take up the issues flagged up by him with the concerned ministries for their resolution at the earliest. The Prime Minister invited Badal to National capital with a Comprehensive Project Report to combat the problem of water logging in the state so that a permanent solution could be found to this vexed problem.
The Punjab Governor and Administrator, UT Chandigarh, Shivraj V. Patil receiving Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh at Chandigarh airport on Saturday.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal calls on the Prime Minister at Punjab Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh on Saturday.