By Punjabnewswire4u
CHANDIGARH, APRIL
25
Taking strong exception to the media reports of intrusion by the Chinese armed
forces into the territory of Indian Border, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr.
Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Centre to act swiftly with resilience and
commitment to prevent the further movement of Chinese troops along the Line of
Actual Control (LAC).
Talking to the media persons on the side lines of a function jointly organized
by the State Water Supply and Sanitation department and World Bank to honor 22
Village Water Supply and Sanitation Committees here at Kisan Bhawan, the Chief
Minister in unequivocally terms said that the Centre should not be complacent
on the issue of safeguarding nation’s territorial integrity. At the same time
he cautioned the Government of India (GoI) to immediately resolve this matter
of Chinese incursion across the LAC otherwise it could adversely impact the
national security. Mr Badal however said that the Congress led UPA government
had miserably failed in checking the growing cult of internal as well as
external aggression.
Citing the problem of Naxalism and wide spread incidents
of terrorism in different parts of the country, the Chief Minister said that it
was an alarming signal which had already put our sovereignty in peril. Mr Badal
urged the GoI especially the Ministry of Defence to initiate all possible
measures in defending the Indian borders besides maintaining national security
at all costs.
Slamming the Centre for arbitrarily thrusting its
decision to impose wealth tax on the Agricultural land within the jurisdiction
of Municipal limits, the Chief Minister termed it as a ‘Retrograde step’ to
crush the distressed peasantry due to low returns from agriculture as
profession. Mr Badal cited an example of a farmer in Jalandhar who has been
rendered bankrupt due to the draconian clause of Wealth tax imposed by the
union government. He apprehended that the wealth tax must be abolished by the
centre forthwith lest it would ruin the beleaguered farmer, who was already
overburdened with heavy debt and several such farmers had forced to commit
suicides. Therefore Mr Badal impressed upon the centre to immediately roll back
the decision of wealth tax which had badly hit the farming community adding he
said that due to the anti-farmer policies of the UPA, the Punjab farmer was
reeling under a heavy debt of Rs 32000 crore and now the levy of this tax would
further aggravate the situation.
Replying to another query regarding the proposed
investments of Tata group in the state, the Chief Minister said that the
Chairperson of Tata Sons Mr Cyrus P Mistry had evinced keen interest in
infrastructure, tourism, IT and Agriculture sectors. Mr Badal said that a joint
committee of senior officers of the state government and representatives of the
Tata Group would work out modalities in this regard in due course of time.
Earlier addressing the Village Water Supply and
Sanitation Committees, the Chief Minister appreciated them for the good work
done in this regard and further called upon them to continue their relentless
efforts in providing safe potable drinking water in the rural areas to prevent
the people from being inflicted with various water borne diseases. Mr Badal
said that the state government has already initiated path breaking steps in
this direction and got the 13739 drinking water samples from various sources
such as canals, tube well etc. tested, of which 1166 samples could not comply
with the stipulated parameters of quality and thus rendered unfit for human
consumption. He resolved firmly that it was the endeavor of the state
government to provide quality and safe drinking water to each and every citizen
of Punjab.
The Chief Minister mentioned that out 15170 villages and
Dhanis, 14313 have been covered under the various drinking water schemes and
the remainder 857 would be covered during the current fiscal. Making a scathing
attack on the officers of the state government indulging in malpractices of corruption
and nepotism for favoring sub standard contractors for allotting works for
pecuniary motives, Mr Badal said that when our responsible officers and
engineers indulge in such immoral activities by wasting the already scarce
funds by making use or recommending poor quality material in the
execution of the water supply and sanitation schemes in connivance with local
contractors was nothing less than a sin which could never be forgiven by anyone
even the God. He impressed upon them to work sincerely and diligently with
utmost honesty and missionary zeal to serve the mankind because using the
spurious quality material in these projects was not only hazardous to the
public health but also amounted to sheer wastage of hard earned tax payer’s
money.
In his address Principal Secretary Water Supply and
Sanitation Mr Suresh Kumar said that the department was committed to provide
the quality safe drinking water free from the presence of heavy metals and
other poisonous elements in every nook and corner of the state. He urged the
people to closely monitor these projects initiated by the department and if
they come across any shortcomings or lacunae in the implementation of these
schemes these must be brought to our notice instantly for prompt action. Mr
Suresh Kumar also asked the officers to work zealously in the larger public
interest. He said that there had been 35% increase in the allocation of funds
for the implementation of these schemes during the current budget adding that
Rs 393 crore would be spent on it during the current fiscal.
On the occasion Chief Parliamentary Secretary Water
Supply and Sanitation proposed a vote of thanks saying that today’s function
would go a long way in motivating the other village panchayats to replicate the
success model of these schemes in their villages and urged them to make
judicious use of water by creating awareness amongst the people.
Prominent amongst other present on the occasion included
Project Director Mr DS Cheema besides the senior officers of the Water Supply
and Sanitation department and World bank.
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