PUNJAB CM ASKS KAPIL
SIBAL FOR EARLY EFC FOR SCIENCE
& TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS IN PUNJAB
BADAL MEETS UNION URBAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER TO SEEK APPROVAL
FOR PROJECTS UNDER UIDSSMT
Chandigarh JANUARY 22:
Punjab Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal today called on
the Union Science & Technology Minister Mr.Kapil Sibal for
seeking an early Environment and Forest Clearance (EFC) for setting
up of a world class National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute
and Bio-processing Unit and National Institute of Nanotechnology.
The Chief Minister raised this issue with Mr.Sibal in a meeting
held here at his office and said that the state government had
already fulfilled its commitment of acquiring 381.38 acres of
land at a cost of Rs.274.35 crore at Mohali for the proposed the
knowledge city. Mr.Badal also urged the Union Science & Technology
Minister for the upgradation of three colleges in the state viz.
Satish Chandra Dhawan Govt. College, Ludhiana, Govt. Mohindra
College, Patiala and Govt. Science & Research College Jagraon
to the level of Star Life Science colleges. He informed that the
detailed proposal of these colleges had already been sent to the
department of Biotechnology, GoI for approval. Mr. Badal also
impressed upon the Union Science & Technology Minister to
link the state's telemedicine project including Primary Health
Centre, Badal in district Muktsar and Community Health Centre,
Machhiwara in district Ludhiana with All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He also asked Mr.Sibal to expedite
GoI's in Principle approval for setting up of Centre of Excellence
for Veterinary and Animal Science at Guru Angad Dev University
of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Ludhiana.
The Chief Minister also asked the Ministry of Science &
Technology to clear the state government's proposal for using
3D technology for urban and planning and management initially
for Ludhiana and its surrounding areas and to be followed for
other municipal corporation agglomerations later on.
Mr.Sibal assured the Chief Minister of fulsome support and cooperation
for the execution of these prestigious projects within a time
frame. Mr.Sibal confirmed to the Chief Minister that the Ministry
of Science & Technology cleared the four pending proposals
for the setting up of Centres of Excellence in the areas of Bio-pesticides,
Medicinal & Aromatic Plants, Genetic Engineering and Technology
Assessment & Transfer.
Earlier, the Chief Minister also called on Union Urban Development
Minister Mr. Jaipal Reddy and sought an early approval of the
detailed project reports (DPRs) for augmentation of sewerage treatment
plant at Ludhiana under JNNURM. These projects included 50 million
liter per day (MLD) capacity enhancement of Jamalpur at Rs. 17.24
crore and 100 MLD each at Bhattian and Balloke at Rs. 34.86 crore
and 34.97 crore. He also mentioned that the Punjab Government
would soon submit DPR for eight projects under Urban Infrastructure
Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) involving
a cost of Rs. 1150 crores. The Ministry of Urban Development had
earmarked Rs. 226 crore for the entire 11th Plan for Punjab under
the scheme.
Mr. Reddy agreed in principle to approve all the proposals put
forth by the Chief Minister and assured Ministry's full support
and co-operation in future also. He asked Mr. Badal to bring any
number of urban development projects and these would be accorded
approval at the priority as planned and integrated development
of urban sector was our major concern and objective.
Later in the evening Mr. Badal paid a courtesy call to the former
Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his residence.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by Principal Resident Commissioner,
Punjab Bhawan New Delhi Anjuly Chib Duggal and Special Principal
Secretary to Chief Minister KJS Cheema.
PUNJAB CM CALLS
ON UNION MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES
AND DEPUTY CHAIRMAN PLANNING COMMISSION
CHANDIGARH JANUARY 22:
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called on Union
Minister of Water Resources Prof.Saif-Ud-Din Soz at New Delhi
in his office at Shram Shakti Bhawan and sought an early clearance
of various pending irrigation projects with the GOI.
Mr. Badal asked the Union Minister of Water Resources to recommend
the concept note on ground water management and eradication of
water logging in the state to the Ministry of Finance so that
the Punjab government could avail of non lending technical assistance
from the World Bank to execute this gigantic task. The Chief Minister
also Prof.Soz to remove the one for one restriction for funding
of projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and
Command Area Development programme, which was a bottleneck in
taking up new projects for execution.
Prof.Soz assured Mr.Badal of full support and cooperation to
the Chief Minister for expeditiously execution of the various
irrigation projects in the state. He said that the Ministry had
already approved the Rs.190 crore Sirhind Feeder Part II and the
other projects including Rs.125 crore Abohar Branch and Bathinda
Branch would also be cleared soon. He appreciated the concern
of Mr.Badal about the scarcity of ground water and urged him to
go for harvesting of rain water and recharge of ground water to
maintain the level of water table. He also asked Mr.Badal to adopt
a model bill circulated to all states for the conservation of
water as it was the life line of the mankind.
Later, Mr.Badal also called on Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission
of India Dr.Montek Singh Ahluwalia in his office at Yojna Bhawan
and asked the Centre to revise the norms and criteria for identification
of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the country. He also
demanded a fresh survey to prepare authentic data on the subject.
"At present, BPL families are defined in minimalist terms
and vast sections of the suffering poor are left out of the ambit
of the scheme," said Mr. Badal.
The Chief Minister said that Punjab deserved a special dispensation
to help this important segment of the populations. "The SC
population in the State constitutes 28.85% of the total population
which is highest in the country. Practically no weight-age is
given by the Planning Commission in the allocation of funds through
various windows to the SC population in the state. The percentage
of SC population may be included as one of the criteria governing
transfer of funds from the centre to the states," said Mr.Badal.
Mr.Ahluwalia assured the Chief Minister that he would certainly
look into the demand of revising the norms for the identification
of BPL families to the advantage of Punjab which had a fairly
large SC population.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by Principal Resident Commissioner
Anjuly Chib Duggal and Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister
KJS Cheema.