Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday asked the officers of the State Government to prepare a comprehensive master plan for ensuring overall development of State’s kandi or hilly areas of the State bordering Himachal Pradesh.
Presiding over a high-level meeting to review development works of kandi, hilly areas of the State, Badal expressed his concern over the slow pace of development in these areas.He stressed that the need of the hour was to give impetus to all-round development of these areas, which have been endowed with bounty of natural resources.“Due to lack of development in these areas, the economic condition of people has been adversely affected,” he said.
Underscoring the need for giving fillip to the development in these areas, Badal said that the proposed master plan would play a pivotal role in comprehending and resolving the problems of these areas at the earliest.For the same, Badal constituted a high level committee under the Chief Secretary to review development of kandi, hilly areas through regular monthly meetings.
He said that the committee should also have administrative secretaries of Finance, Planning, Forest, Power and Irrigation departments, so as to give speedy clearances to the projects for the progress of these areas.Dwelling on another issue, the Chief Minister also asked the officers to take up the matter of installing barbed wire or fencing in these areas to prevent damage caused to the crops of farmers by wild animals with the Central Government, so that farmers could be given subsidy on it.
He also asked the Financial Commissioner Development to explore feasibility of constructing ‘Cattle Ponds’ for checking entry of wild animals in residential areas.Badal also asked soil conservation and irrigation department to prepare proposals regarding lift and drip irrigation besides construction of check dams so as to ensure water and forest conservation and management.