The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that with the BJP led NDA government coming to power at Center, our state stands benefited enormously from its benevolence as it had already given gifts like AIIMS, IIM, Heritage status to Amritsar, including Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana as Smart Cities and World Heritage Park status to legendary monument of Jallianwala Bagh and Horticulture Research Institute of Excellence at Amritsar.Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of the second day of his sangat darshan program in the Lambi Assembly Segment, Mr. Badal conveyed his sincere gratitude to the Modi government at Center for showing keen interest in the overall development and prosperity of the state, which was already in the mode of commemorating its eventful two years in office. He confidently said Centre would never turn down our any genuine demand or request in future also for the betterment of the state and its people.
Mr. Badal further said that our state had been immensely benefited from Center’s decision to give a bigger pie in GoI’s taxes from 32% to 42%, that has accelerated the tempo of development and growth of state. On the statement of National BJP President Mr.Amit Shah referring to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as an elder brother in its alliance with BJP in Punjab, Mr Badal said that our ties with BJP were neither just for electoral gain nor transient in nature rather these solidly firm lick rock and were everlasting on the principals of peace, communal harmony, amity and brotherhood. Asked to comment to on spurt in the incidents of farm suicides, Mr Badal said that the State Government has recently enacted "The Punjab Settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness 2016" Act to put in an effective mechanism for expeditious determination and settlement of non-institutional agricultural debt. He hoped that this act would go a long way in mitigating the woes of the beleaguered farm community on one hand and saving them from sheer exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous /fraudulent elements on the other.
This said act provides for expeditious settlement of debt disputes. The process for setting up these district level forums and state level tribunal had already been initiated.It may be recalled that according to the provisions of this act, any debtor or creditor of agricultural loan can file a petition before the District Level Forum for settlement of their debt and if aggrieved with the order of the Forum, can further file an appeal before the State Level Tribunal. The said act cover the debt related disputes of agriculturists and agriculture labourers up to Rs.15 lac within three months. The chief Minister address the people during his sangat darshan Programms at village Adhnia, Sehna khera, Fatehpur Maninwala, Tappa khera, Mahuana, Khudian gulabsingh and khudian maha singh. He also honoured the brilliant girl students of the Govt School Mahuana for scoring high marks in their board exam and called upon them to take admission in meritorious school to further excel in their academic career. Prominent amongst other who attended the sangat darshan program included Punjab Agro Chairman Mr. Dyal Singh Kolianwali, Chairman Mr. Tejinder Singh Middukhera, Mr Avtar Singh Vanwala, Mr Satinderjit Singh Manta, DC Dr. Sumit Jarangal, Joint Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Kumar Amit, DIG Mr. Gurinder Singh, SSP Mr. Gurpreet Singh.