Chandigarh, March 31 (IANS) The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod for hiking the compensation due to unseasonal rains by 25 per cent per acre.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held here.
A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said keeping in view the loss incurred by the farmers due to rains, the Cabinet decided to enhance the relief amount from Rs 12,000 per acre to Rs 15,000 per acre for 76-100 per cent for loss of crops.
This measure will give a healing touch to the affected farmers who will be able to get a reasonable financial relief from the government. These relief rates will be applicable from March 1.
Keeping in view the larger public interest, the Cabinet also gave its consent to extend the exemption of 2.25 per cent stamp duty and fees to those registering their property or land by April 30.
Those opting for registration of land will now be exempted from one per cent additional stamp duty, one per cent PIDB fees and 0.25 per cent special fees.
It also gave approval for hiring 2,574 Kisan Mitras and 108 field supervisors in the Agriculture Department.
These Kisan Mitras and field supervisors will encourage the farmers to get out of the rut of wheat and paddy circle and cultivate less water guzzling crops like cotton and basmati.
This step will act as a catalyst to save groundwater by boosting crop diversification programme on one hand and providing employment to the youth of the state on the other.
In regulatory filing, Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of the Reliance group, said the Board of Directors at its meeting held on Monday "approved the appointment of Akash Ambani, Non-executive Director, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company".
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohali, Vivek Sheel Soni, on Tuesday ordered registration of an FIR against Sub-Inspector (S-I) Balwinder Singh in the firing incident in Dera Bassi in Punjab. The SSP also initiated departmental action against three police personnel present at the spot for major punishment.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday informed the Assembly that the state will soon bring a resolution in the House to oppose the Centre's Agnipath scheme regarding the defence recruitment. Also, he said, a resolution on condemning the ban on Sidhu Moosewala's new song, SYL, on YouTube.
The Special Cell sought fourteen days police custody. The police move was opposed by advocate Deepak Tyagi who appeared for Kumar. The court after hearing the arguments allowed the police request and sent him to police custody.
In a statement released here, Sirsa said he had claimed from day one that the excise policy of Delhi and now of Punjab has been framed to benefit large contractors from whom the AAP wanted to get election funds to contest elections in time to come in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Some of the accused arrested by the Punjab Police have revealed the name of Lawrence Bishnoi as the main culprit who hired them to execute the killing of Moosewala.
