Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday put forth his wish list for the next fiscal’s General Budget. In New Delhi, the 85-year-old Chief Minister met as many as five Union Ministers flagging the State-specific demands.
Right from demanding excise duty exemption on farm machineries and interest-free short term crop loans to small and marginal farmers, Badal sought a PGIMS for the State, Centre’s assistance in cancer eradication, funds for cities’ overall development, among other things.
Besides, Badal also reminded the Central Ministers regarding the announcements made during the previous Budget which are yet to be realised.
Badal, meeting with the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, sought exemption of excise duty on farm machineries and interest-free short term crop loans to small and marginal farmers.
He also demanded income tax exemption to those involved in agriculture, dairy, fisheries and other subsidiary activities besides raising the support price of farm crops by 50 per cent of the production cost.
After discussing these issues with the Union Minister, Badal said, “Agriculture and agriculturists are in a bad shape today. We have sought several measures including implementation of the BJP party's election promise on MSP issue.”
He said that the minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural crops should be raised by 50 per cent of the production cost as suggested by the committee headed by MS Swaminathan.
The MSP regime of procurement must continue to ensure continued food security and “any change in this may lead to unrest among farmers”, he said, adding that the Centre should procure other crops like maize and provide financial assistance to encourage crop diversification in the state.
Badal also discussed income tax and excise duty relaxation to strengthen agriculture sector and urged the Union Minister to take up these issues with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He demanded that “exemption of payment of central excise on all agricultural implements including combine harvesters and their parts, should be recommended to the Ministry of Finance”.
Badal also sought income tax exemption to those involved in agriculture, dairy, fisheries and other allied activities, reintroduction of income tax exemption for state and central cooperative banks, and interest free crop loan for small and marginal farmers.
“Recommendations should be made to the Finance Ministry for capital infusion to state cooperative banks of Rs150 crore and to revise norms for relief for crop damage due to natural calamities,” he said.
SEEKS IRANI’S PERSONAl INTERVENTION TO EXPEDITE SITE FINAlIsATION FOR IIM
Badal impressed upon the Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani to expedite the process of constituting a site selection committee for finalising the site of setting up Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Amritsar, announced in previous Budget.
He apprised Irani that the State Government has identified two sites for Ministry’s approval to setup IIM in Amritsar. “One site is of 192 acres land at Awan village which is 40 kilometres from International Airport and other is in Sheron Bagha village that is 50 kilometres from Amritsar,” said Badal.
Responding, Irani said that Ministry has already finalised site selection committee for IIM, which would finalise the site within a week after visiting both the proposed sites by the State Government.
“The classes of the upcoming IIM would begin from the current session at Punjab Institute of Technology as recommended by the State Government,” she said.
Badal also urged Irani to lay foundation stone of construction of campus of Central University at Bathinda. “The State Government has already transferred 500 acres of land at Ghudda village to the Central Government for the construction of Central University. Right now, University is functioning from a temporary accommodation at Bathinda,” he said.
Under grant-in-aid scheme to meritorious schools, Badal requested to share 75 per cent of the non-recurring and recurring costs of the State-run scheme to impart free education in Class XI and XII to the students who secured 80 percent or more marks in Class X in the specially established six residential schools across the State.
Badal also sought revision of existing norms of providing mid-day meal to student and increasing the cooking cost for primary students to Rs7 per child from existing Rs3.56 and Rs10 from existing Rs5.38 per child for upper primary students.
He also urged the Union Minister to raise the honorarium of Mid Day Meal cooks from existing Rs1,200 per month to Rs3,500 per month.
SEEKS PGIMS FOR THE STATE
Badal urged the Union Health Minister JP Nadda to sanction a Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) to Punjab.
“Every State has been given a PGIMS but the State of Punjab has been left out despite having allotted 200 acres of prime land on national highway one in Kapurthala district for it. To provide quality treatment and diagnostic facilities to the people, one PGI should be given to the State,” he stressed.
Seeking Centre’s whole hearted support to eradicate the menace of cancer from the state, Badal impressed upon Nadda to sanction central assistance worth Rs250 crore for construction of state-of-art cancer treatment infrastructure at Bathinda, Amritsar, Patiala, Sangrur, and Faridkot at a cost of Rs500 crore. He also sought “immediate implementation” of State Cancer Institute at Amritsar.
Badal also asked the Minister to immediately release the initial grant of Rs50 crore for drug de-addiction activities announced by the Finance Minister in the previous Budget.
He urged Nadda to enhance number of seats in Amritsar Medical College from 150 to 200, from 100 to 150 in Faridkot Medical College and from 150 to 200 in Patiala Medical College, besides enhancement of post-graduate seats in the state.
SEEKS Rs5187.75 CR FOR CITIES’ OVERAll DEVElOPMENT
Badal urged the Union Urban Development and Housing Minister Venkaiah Naidu to immediately release Rs5187.75 crore to ensure 100 per cent water supply, sewerage facilities besides providing a network of roads and street lighting in all the towns of Punjab.
He said that the said amount would be used to fund 30 towns for water supply, 79 for sewerage and 86 for installations of sewerage treatment plants besides upgradation and modernisation of roads and streetlights.
Chief Minister asked the Minister to include Punjab’s 12 cities — ludhiana, Amritsar, Mohali, New Chandigarh, Zirakpur, Dera Bassi, Kharar, Tarn Taran, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Patiala — under Smart City scheme.
Expressing gratitude towards. Naidu for selecting Amritsar under Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojna (HRIDAY), Badal urged him to lay foundation stone of the scheme at Amritsar.
He also impressed upon Naidu to release last installment of JNNURM sewerage project in ludhiana as the State Government has already submitted its 100 per cent utilisation certificates on March 28, 2014.