Chandigarh, July 27 (IANS) Following the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Mandi Board will install solar power plants in all the mandis to provide affordable electricity across the state.
This has been stated by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, while chairing a meeting with senior officials of the department here on Wednesday.
Dhaliwal ordered the officials to start the work of installing solar power plants in all grain and vegetable markets at once in the state.
Officials said under a pilot project net metering roof top solar power plant in four mandis are being installed and such solar power plants will be installed in 23 mandis.
The minister said a project report should be prepared for all grain and vegetable markets for setting up net monitoring solar power plants so that the people can be provided with affordable electricity. He directed to install sheds on which solar panels could be installed easily.
The minister also issued instructions to take action to strengthen the link roads and make them 18 feet wide under the Mandi Board.
Along with this, he said that the damaged link roads should be repaired immediately.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.