AAP govt in Punjab to present its first budget on June 27
Darpan News Desk IANS, 07 Jun, 2022 12:17 PM
Chandigarh, June 7 (IANS) The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday approved summoning of the budget session of the 16th Vidhan Sabha from June 24 with the laying of the budget - the first of the AAP government - on June 27.
A decision in this regard was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Mann here.
The Chief Minister's Office said the Cabinet gave the nod for promulgation of the session from June 24 with obituary references and motion of thanks on the Governor's Address, followed by a discussion on it.
The Finance Minister will present the budget for 2022-23 on June 27 and the general discussion on the budget will take place thereafter. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for 2018-19 and 2019-20 along with Financial and Appropriation Accounts for 2019-20 and 2020-21 will also be tabled during the session.
In order to save natural resources in terms of groundwater, besides improving soil health and generating additional income for the farmers, the Cabinet also gave the green signal for providing the minimum support price (MSP) on summer moong at Rs 7,275 per quintal for 2022-23 by Markfed, the state nodal agency for the purchase of crops.
It was also decided to provide viability gap funding to the agency at the rate of Rs 1,875 per quintal, amounting to nearly Rs 66.56 crore.
During the current season, moong is being sown on about 95,000 acres with an expected yield of five quintal per acre. This will help in sowing short duration varieties of paddy which is expected to save 10-20 per cent of underground water thereby conserving the natural resources.
In a much needed succour to street vendors hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cabinet also decided to waive stamp duty being levied on executing the loan or hypothecation agreement up to Rs 50,000 (third tranche loan) for the street vendors under PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.
The community is awaiting the release of Sikh prisoners who have served more than their life sentence in jail and have not been released even after the same was approved by the Centre in 2019 on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
The accused have been identified as Mohammad Riyaz, Ankit Kumar, Kishan Yadav, Manorath, Pooja, Lovely Sharma, Neha Kashyap and Sangeet. Falling for the lucrative offer, the victim transferred Rs 8,500 online, only to receive a fake insurance certificate for his vehicle.
The official informed that a call was received at 9.30 pm regarding the incident after which one fire tender was pressed into service. At the time of filing this report, the fire tender was yet to return.
Musk on Twitter slammed the lawyer for suspending the account of the New York Post. During the run-up to the 2020 US presidential elections, the Post wrote an exclusive article about Hunter Biden's laptop. The article has since been verified by many outlets which had initially dismissed the report as misinformation.
Punjab is predominantly an agricultural state with majority of population living in rural areas. Forty-five per cent of total diesel consumed in Punjab is used in agriculture, 25 per cent in transportation, 20 per cent in industry and 10 per cent by retail consumer.
Delhi Police on Wednesday busted a smuggling racket of imported cigarettes and recovered 3,650 packets of illegally smuggled cigarettes, valued at approximately Rs 7.3 lakhs. According to the police, a man, identified as Aamir Laeeq, 30, was arrested in this connection.
