Badal urges package of 14.6 crore for those killed during President’s rule
Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today sought a comprehensive package of Rs.14.61 crore for the next of kin of 788 persons killed during President rule in the state. Mr. Badal raised this issue when he called on Union Home Minister Mr. Shivraj V. Patil in his office at New Delhi.
Giving the details of the meeting Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains said that Mr. Badal also asked the Union Home Minister to grant Rs.116 crore for setting up of Mega City Policing facility in Ludhiana and Amritsar.
One of the major issues raised by Mr. Badal pertained to police verification of passengers traveling by bus to Lahore. Mr. Badal said that this requirement should be dispensed with.
Referring to the issue of the construction of Modern Jail at Faridkot, Mr. Badal also demanded the release of Rs.103 crore as one time grant for the improvement of the Jail Infrastructure in the State. The Chief Minister sought Mr. Patil’s personal intervention for releasing capital grant of Rs. 140 crore for Maharaja Ranjit Singh Police University and Rs. 92.86 crore for the provision of Sewerage and Drinking Water facility in eleven towns of Boder District of Punjab under BADP scheme. Mr. Badal also asked to issue the NOC for the proposed MoU to be signed with the province of British Colombia (Canada), covering the areas of Skill development and education by the State Government.
To mitigate the inconvenience caused to the farmers engaged in agricultural activities across the fence along with the Indo-Pak Border the compensation at the rate of Rs. 5000/- per acre to be released. This would entail a liability of only Rs. 9.25 crore. The Chief Minister also took up the issue with Mr. Patil to immediately revise the existing norms of Calamity Relief Funds (CRF) to enhance the assistance for Crop damaged; from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 15000/- per hectare, for house hold goods; from Rs.1000/- to Rs.50,000/- and for cattle from Rs. 20 to Rs. 50 per day, as the farmers of Punjab being a major agrarian state had to face the brunt of the vagaries of nature.
Mr. Patil assured the Chief Minister that he would soon convene the meeting of the officers to resolve all these issues raised by Mr. Badal on the top priority.