Punjab CM seeks special financial package of Rs 1 lakh crore
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Mar, 2022 01:22 PM
New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday sought a special financial package of Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre for the revival of state's economy, besides ensuring holistic development and welfare of its people.
Mann called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in his office.
Apprising the Prime Minister about pathetic fiscal position of the state, he said the previous governments have left a whopping burden of Rs 3 lakh crore on the state and demanded immediate financial package of Rs 50,000 crore each for two years to put the derailed economy on the rails.
Mann hoped with this financial help, the state's economy would become self-sustainable and economically viable during the third year.
Pointing out further, he said his government on its own would also strive hard to fill the empty coffers by completely wiping out the mafia from the state.
He also mentioned that Punjabis have made enormous sacrifices for country's Independence and even now valiant Punjabi soldiers are protecting the borders from internal and external aggression to safeguard nation's integrity and sovereignty.
Raising another sensitive issue of national security in the context of Punjab being a border state, the Chief Minister also solicited wholehearted support from the government of India to foil the attempts of inimical forces across the border, which is well equipped with the latest techniques.
He, however, assured the Prime Minister that Punjab would also provide all necessary assistance to the Centre in this regard and also requested it to furnish the latest and hi-tech infrastructure to the state forces for anti-insurgency operations.
Terming the outcome of his maiden meeting with Prime Minister after assuming the charge as Chief Minister as positive, Mann said the former promised all possible support and complete cooperation to make Punjab a vibrant state.
"If Punjab makes rapid strides of development then India would also eventually prosper," Mann said.
Quoting few lines from the poem of legendary poet Mohan Singh, Mann said Punjab was like a stone studded in the ring of India.
He lamented that this stone (Punjab) had gradually lost its sheen with the passage of time due to people's ill-conceived decisions to elect certain governments which ruled the state.
Reiterating his firm commitment, the Chief Minister said that his government would leave no stone unturned to make Punjab as number one state in the country which would also brought laurels for the country at the global level.
Responding to the issues raised by Mann, the Prime Minister said he would soon take up this matter with the Ministries of Finance and Home to provide adequate support to the state.
Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said the alliance government will set up a special task force to probe the sacrilege incidents and fast-track courts to try such cases.
The ED on late Thursday arrested him after over eight hours of questioning. He was summoned for the second time. Honey was earlier summoned by the ED to join the investigation on January 23, but he skipped the first summon on health issues and did not join the investigation.
Leaving behind his celebrated tag of a top Punjabi rap singer with fans across the globe, singer-turned-actor-politician Sidhu Moosewala, who was booked for allegedly promoting gun culture and violence, takes pride in crediting his mother Charan Kaur, sarpanch of his native Moosa village, for making his electoral debut as a Congress candidate from Mansa for the February 20 Assembly polls.
With his assurance a power struggle is on between party state President Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit Chief Minister of a state that is home to 32 per cent Scheduled Caste population, the country's largest, to be the chief ministerial candidate.
On checking their purses, polythenes containing off-white substance weighing 400 gms was recovered from the possession of Shivani, 424 gms was recovered from Kiran and polythene containing white substance weighing 439 gms was found with Preeti, said the police.
As a part of the tracker, a snap poll simply asked the respondents across all 117 seats in Punjab, if they feel that PLC-BJP-SADs alliance candidate is in "serious contest" in their own area. The results show that every third voter in Punjab believes that Captain is still very much in serious contest along with his new alliance partners.
