DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Thursday strongly supported presented the case of the state related to Power and Urban Development in front of the Government of India. The Punjab delegation led by Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardip Singh Mundian, Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO and Local Government Minister Dr Ravjot Singh met Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today at Punjab Bhawan and flagged demands based on facts.

Meanwhile, Union Minister assured the delegation that GOI will sympathetically look into the case of of Punjab.

During a meeting of the coordination committee on matters related to the central government of the Power and Housing Development departments. Punjab Cabinet Ministers said that the Punjab government led by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Maan is implementing various development projects in the state. The demands pending with the Center related to both the departments should be fulfilled soon.

Punjab has placed a demand before the Center that the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) should change the revised rules in the year 2022, maintaining the tradition of appointing member Power from the state of Punjab. Punjab said that according to the new conditions, no l candidate will qualify from the state. Similarly, Punjab asserted its full right to the Shanan project located in Himachal Pradesh and said that under the Punjab Reorganization Act, it is the right of Punjab. Seeing the need for more electricity and the limited capacity of Punjab's Hydel and Thermal power projects, Punjab has demanded that power be provided to Punjab from central plants on a long term basis.

During the meeting, Punjab demanded to increase the capacity of subsidized solar pumps for agriculture to at least 15 horsepower to promote solar energy. Permission to transfer coal from mines in Punjab to private thermal plants i.e. Talwandi Sabo, and Nabha in the state was also sought. To promote renewable energy, a reduction in trade margin of seven paise per unit was demanded. Punjab also demanded to extend the time limit in the RDSS scheme as the scheme started late in Punjab. It was also demanded to give subsidies on the lines of biogas plants to the plots set up to generate electricity from paddy straw. Similarly, a demand was also made to increase the capacity of solar projects installed on rooftops.

Similarly, during the discussion related to Urban Development, Punjab demanded to extension of the deadline for the Sultanpur Lodhi Smart City project. Punjab had argued that the project was allotted later than the other three smart city projects, so its deadline should be extended by at least two years from March 31, 2025. Similarly, to give a boost to pollution free vehicles and public transport systems, areas of Punjab like Mohali-Zirakpur connected to Chandigarh should also be made a cluster and included in the e-bus service project.

Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar gave in-principle consent to the many demands of Punjab and assured them to approach them with a positive attitude.

Prominent among others who were present in the meeting included Secretary Power Pankaj Aggarwal, Joint Secretary Power Mohammad Afzal, BBMB Chairman Manoj Tripathi, OSD (Ministry of Urban and Housing) Jaideep and Director AMRUT Gurjeet Singh Dhillon from Union Government and Additional Chief Secretary Local Government Tejveer Singh, Secretary Housing and Urban Development and Power Rahul Tewari, Special Secretary Local Government Deepti Uppal, Director Local Government Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Special Secretary Housing and Urban Development Apneet Riyat, PUDA CA Neeru Katial and PSPCL CMD Engineer Baldev Singh Sran from the state Government.
(editor@dailyworld.in)