Chandigarh/New Delhi July 29:
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal sought personal intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare the channelisation of river Ghaggar as a national project to check the recurrence of floods in future and save the people from its fury on permanent basis.
Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Chief Minister Badal called on Manmohan Singh in his office at Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. The Chief Minister urged the PM that the channelisation of the river Ghaggar was the need of the hour and should be taken up on the priority basis to save Punjab and Haryana from devastation as it was responsible for floods leading to heavy losses of life, property and crops in the region.
Badal informed the Prime Minister that the cost of the channelisation of river Ghaggar in Punjab would be approximately ` 1,175 crore and would require construction of embankments, other flood protection works and remodeling of cross drainage works across river Ghaggar in Punjab and Haryana.
Seeking immediate revision of norms under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) for crop loss as these were too less and far inadequate, Badal impressed upon the Prime Minister to issue directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs for the enhancement in compensation to ` 10,000 per acre for the entire land holding of the farmers from the current scale of just Rs 1,600 per acre limited only up to two hectares.
Demanding one-time complete debt waiver or at least debt re-scheduling for another 30 years, Badal said that Punjab was still reeling under severe financial crisis due to staggering debt and recommendations of the 5th Punjab State Pay Commission. He pointed out that the total accumulated debt was of nearly ` 65,000 crore mainly due to decade-long militancy and the net borrowings of the State would be ` 6,586 crore alone during the current fiscal.
Moreover, the State was in debt trap as debt servicing was to the extent of nearly ` 5,700 crore every year. The Chief Minister also urged Singh to advise the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for allocation of gas at the Government-administered price for 1000-MW gas-based power project at Ropar expeditiously, for which the land was already available and the arrangements for gas transportation had been finalised with GAIL.
Badal also requested the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Coal for assured coal supply through allocation of coal block of high quality, since there was a great shortage of power in the State and moreover we had already tapped all the hydro potential and now left with only alternative of thermal power.
Likewise, the Chief Minister also sought coal linkage for 2640-MW Gidderbaha power project as the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had already recommended coal linkage. The Chief Minister also sought the Centre’s approval for the execution of 500-km road project under Pardhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana in the four border districts namely Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur.