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.
Tens of thousands of farmers assembled there over their demand, including an increase of minimum daily wages to Rs 700 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA), implementing five-marla plot schemes for Dalits and allotment of the third part of common panchayat land on lease to the community.
The NIA said that it will continue to dismantle such terror networks as well as their funding and support infrastructure. The official said that preliminary investigations revealed that these gangs were carrying out targeted killings and were also raising funds for their criminal activities through smuggling of drugs and weapons.
"An earthquake of magnitude 2.5 occurred 8 km west of New Delhi at around 9.30 p.m. today. The depth of the earthquake was 5 km below the ground," the National Centre for Seismology said in a tweet. Recently, massive earthquakes, which claimed many lives and damaged properties, were witnessed in Indonesia and Nepal.
The troops fired at the drone after they noticed it entered the Indian territory near the Chaharpur village, some 40 km from Amritsar city. The BSF recovered one hexacopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle, in a partial damaged condition along with white-colour polythene tagged with it, a BSF official said.
In a statement here, the SAD President said instead of instilling confidence in people of Punjab by taking appropriate steps, the Chief Minister had fled the state to campaign for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat along with his cabinet.
These programmes will be held in Jalandhar, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Ludhiana, Moga and Amritsar on December 16, 19, 23, 26 and 30, respectively. NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said issues and complaints of NRI Punjabis will be resolved promptly as well as on the spot during these meetings.
