M A I N   N E W S

CM announces energy bonus for small farmers
Varinder Singh and Ravinder Sood
Tribune News Service

Hoshiarpur, August 20
The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh today announced sops for small farmers and the people of the Kandi area in the form of energy bonus and the homeless. Five Marla plots would be given to the homeless in 140 villages of the state and the number of free monthly power units for the Dalits in the rural areas would be increased from 50 to 100.

Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal repeatedly showered praises on the Chief Minister speech that confined to the development of the state during the Congress regime.

Capt Amarinder Singh addressing gathering after inaugurating the Hoshiarpur Balachaur stretch of the Rajiv Gandhi kandi canal, said landholdings were shrinking and costs of agricultural inputs were increasing.

He said the farmers would have to adopt new techniques, even as his government was doing a lot to boost the economy. “We have decided that every farmer owning up to five acres and having a tubewell connection of not more than five BHP, would be eligible for a monthly energy bonus of Rs 300, which would be reimbursed after every crop or six months. Since, the Kandi area is suffering from acute water shortage and low water table, the bonus would be extended to farmers with pump sets of up to 7.5 BHP. Every small farmer would get a reimbursement of Rs 1,800 after every six months. Moreover, in order to uplift the dalits, a decision has been taken to enhance their monthly free power units from 50 to 100. We will also clear the pension backlog of Rs 195 crore on a quarterly basis,” Capt Amarinder Singh said.

The government had identified 9.13 lakh tubewells in the state and 5.42 lakh of these were power based and below 5 BHP. As many as 1.43 lakh tubewells were running on diesel. Since diesel is going to be costlier, we have decided to give power connections to those farmers who already have lower capacity diesel engines. This way we will be covering about 72 per cent of the farmers of the state. These facilities would not be available to big farmers,” he said.

Referring to plans to develop the kandi area, he said nearly 100 deep-bore tubewells were being sunk in the kandi area of Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Ropar. Existing non-functional tubewells would be repaired soon.

Announcing the launch of Shri Rajiv Gandhi Pendu Vikas Yojna, Capt Amarinder Sing said his government had identified 140 blocks in the state where villages would be set up. In each of these 140 villages, the homeless would be allotted a five marla plot each for the construction of houses and some common land would also be provided for other purpose like dumping of farm manure. This work would be completed by December 31,” he said.

The Chief Minister accused SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal of fomenting terrorism.

Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had given instructions to party office-bearers to do their bit to fulfil the promises made to the people.

She said the Central Government was aiming to achieve its objective to give at least 100-day employment to one member of each family in a year. She said the Right to Information Act, had empowered the people.

Dr Kewal Krishan, Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, said the kandi canal would be a lifeline for the poor of this area.

Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, PPCC chief, said Rajiv Gandhi was a visionary and stressed upon the need to strengthen the worker base of the party and suggested that all plus-two passouts and graduates should be given Rs 300 a month until they got jobs.

Minister Avtaar Henry said Punjab was progressing and its exports had increased from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore within a year. He said the farmers were facing no problems as far as the procurement of paddy and wheat was concerned.