CM said that finance minister had done very good job by ensuring the well being of each and every person of society by laying special thrust on those belonging to weaker sections. He announced that the Punjab Government will announce major pro-people decisions in the coming budget. Budget contains the welfare of not only poor and farmers but has chalked out specific schemes for uplifting for labour classes, backward classes and students and youth.
The Budget is pro-village, poor and farmers with focus on bringing about qualitative change in the country and alleviate poverty .The Chief Minister also patted Mr. Dhindsa for providing interest free crop loan scheme for the small and marginal farmers thereby benefitting over 10lakh farmers in the state. He thanked the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley for allocating Rs 100crore to mark 350th birth celebrations of tenth Sikh master Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji.
He said that the decision of Union government was a supreme gift for every Punjabi in general and Sikhs across the globe. it was a matter of great satisfaction and pride that the NDA government has almost doubled the budgetary provisions kept for Agriculture sector. Punjab was the only state which was giving free power up to Rs. 5500crore annually to farmers. Punjab Government has decided to release grants to Mehta Mandals and youth clubs to empower the women and youth in the rural areas. He also announced Rs. 150crore for the sewerage and water supply in Batala city besides the creation of ADC post for the city.
The Deputy CM also commended the giving of 1.65lakh tube well connections besides priority connections for marginal farmers having land holdings below 2.5 acres. He provides special attention to industrial sector; a high tech cycle valley has been planned at Ludhiana besides an industrial manufacturing cluster in 200 acres at Rajpura. He said that insurance cover of Rs5lakh to each farming family under sehat bima yojna and interest free loan will be provided to farmers, in order to ensure tax compliance formulation of ‘Apna Tax’ scheme will encourage customers to seek bills from retail vendors.
Sukhbir Singh Badal 