Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said that peace, communal harmony and development will be the main agenda of the SAD-BJP alliance in the Assembly polls to be held next year.
He claimed that besides strengthening the bond of brotherhood and amity in the state, the alliance government has ensured all-round development of Punjab in last decade.
Badal, addressing a series of the public gatherings during his Sangat Darshan in villages in Sardulgarh, said that peace and communal harmony were the catalyst of development in the state due to which the state government has accorded top priority in preserving and strengthening these ethos.
listing major initiatives taken by the state government, he claimed that the SAD-BJP alliance government has supplied free power to the farmers of the state at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore in last 10-years to bail them out from agrarian crisis.
He said that Punjab was the only state in the country to provide Atta-Dal scheme to the weaker sections adding that it was also the only state to ensure free treatment for fatal diseases like Cancer and Hepatitis C. Badal said that the state government has started first of its kind scheme to provide interest free crop loans worth Rs 50,000 to farmers.
In another historic decision, it has been decided that all the farmers would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs 50,000 and an insurance of Rs 5 lakh in case of accidental death or incapacitation of head of family. The Chief Minister said that an advanced cancer treatment centre has been set up at Bathinda to impart quality cancer treatment to people at par with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. Badal alleged that the Congress party was the “perpetrator” of a “deep rooted conspiracy” to deprive the state of its waters by constructing the Satluj Yamuna link (SYl) canal. He added that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was following in the footsteps of Congress to deprive the state of its river waters.
later, at Kot Dharmu, the Chief Minister said that issue of regularization of services of contractual employees was under the active consideration of the state government.
He said a Cabinet Sub-Committee under Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal was looking into the matter.
Taking on Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, Badal said that realising well that he could never form government in the state, the state Congress chief was promising moon to everyone.
He said that during his regime, Capt Amarinder had not given job to a single person. likewise, Badal said that Capt Amarinder had also imposed power tariff on the farmers after his Government was formed in the State.