Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday dedicated projects worth Rs 100 crore, including an automatic fermented milk product unit, to the people of Jalandhar.
His visit to the city comes in the run-up to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll necessitated following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.
It was Mann's second visit to Jalandhar within two days. Earlier, he, along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had come to lay the foundation stone of Sri Guru Ravidas Bani Adhyan Centre at Dera Sachkhand Ballan in the city.
The bypoll is going to be a litmus test for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party which had last year lost the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll after coming to power in Punjab. The date for the Jalandhar bypoll is yet to be announced.
Addressing a gathering here, Mann said Jalandhar will be developed as a model city, adding no stone will be left unturned for it. He also epmhasied on further developing the sports industry in the city.
Mann dedicated the newly constructed automatic fermented milk product plant of Verka at a cost of Rs 84 crore to the people. He also virtually inaugurated a smart school at Basti Danishmanda at a cost of Rs 4.83 crore. Mann also laid the foundation stone of roads and streetlights to be installed at the Leather complex in the city.
Referring to crop damage due to recent rains, the chief minister said the government has announced 25 per cent upward revision in the compensation for crop loss to the farmers. He said in case the loss is more than 75 per cent, then the state government will compensate farmers with Rs 15,000 per acre.
He said the compensation was earlier only Rs 12,000 an acre, but his government has decided to enhance it. Slamming previous governments, Mann said earlier the entire process was a “sham” as the governments used to give meagre compensation to farmers.
About the fully automated fermented milk plant, he said it has a processing capacity of 1.50 lakh litres a day.
It will go a long way in ensuring remunerative rate to milk producers of Jalandhar, Kapurthala and SBS Nagar districts, besides providing direct or indirect employment opportunities to the youth and entrepreneurs of adjoining areas. He said the day is not far when, due to strenuous efforts of the state government, Punjab will emerge as the frontrunner state in the country.
Mann also spoke about giving over 26,000 government jobs, opening of over 500 mohalla clinics and setting up of schools of eminence. He accused the Centre of meting out step-motherly treatment to the state.
Usurping of states legitimate rights by the Centre was weakening the federal structure of the country, he alleged, adding that Centre was blatantly ignoring the rights of states.
The Union government is unnecessarily harassing the state, he alleged and said funds worth Rs 3,000 crore under the rural development fund are yet to be paid by the Centre to Punjab.
