Taking note of media reports of intrusion by the Chinese armed forces in the Indian territory, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday asked the Centre to act swiftly with resilience and commitment to prevent further movement of Chinese troops along the line of Actual Control (lAC).
Talking to reporters on the side lines of a function jointly organized by the State Water Supply and Sanitation department and World Bank to honor 22 Village
Water Supply and Sanitation Committees here at Kisan Bhawan, the Chief Minister said that the Centre should not be complacent on the issue of safeguarding nation’s territorial integrity. At the same time he cautioned the Government of India (GoI) to immediately resolve this matter of Chinese incursion across the lAC otherwise it could adversely impact national security.
Badal said that the Congress led UPA government had miserably failed in checking the growing cult of internal as well as external aggression.
Citing the problem of Naxalism and wide spread incidents of terrorism in different parts of the country, the Chief Minister said that it was an alarming signal which had already put our sovereignty in peril.
Badal urged the GoI especially the Ministry of Defence to initiate all possible measures in defending the Indian borders besides maintaining national security at all costs.
Opposes imposition of wealth tax
The chief minister slammed the Centre for arbitrarily thrusting its decision to impose wealth tax on agricultural land within the jurisdiction of Municipal limits terming it as a ‘Retrograde step’ to crush the distressed peasantry due to low returns from agriculture as profession.
Badal cited an example of a farmer in Jalandhar who has been rendered bankrupt due to the draconian clause of wealth tax imposed by the Union Government.
He apprehended that the wealth tax must be abolished by the centre forthwith lest it would ruin the beleaguered farmer, who was already overburdened with heavy debt and several such farmers had forced to commit suicides.
He impressed upon the need to immediately roll back the decision of wealth tax which had badly hit the farming community adding he said that due to the anti-farmer policies of the UPA, the Punjab farmer was reeling under a heavy debt of Rs32,000 crore and now the levy of this tax would further aggravate the situation.
Investment by Tata group
Replying to a query regarding the proposed investments of Tata group in the State, Badal said that the Chairperson of Tata Sons Cyrus P Mistry had evinced keen interest in infrastructure, tourism, IT and Agriculture sectors. He said that a joint committee of senior officers of the State Government and representatives of the Tata Group would work out modalities in this regard in due course of time.
Drinking water
Addressing the Village Water Supply and Sanitation Committees, the Chief Minister appreciated them for the good work done in this regard and further called upon them to continue their relentless efforts in providing safe potable drinking water in the rural areas to prevent the people from being inflicted with various water borne diseases.
Badal said that the State Government has already initiated steps in this direction and got the 13,739 drinking water samples from various sources such as canals, tube well etc. tested, of which 11,66 samples could not comply with the stipulated parameters of quality and thus rendered unfit for human consumption.
The Chief Minister mentioned that out 15,170 villages and Dhanis, 14,313 have been covered under the various drinking water schemes and the remainder 857 would be covered during the current fiscal.
In his address, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation, Suresh Kumar said that the department was committed to provide the quality safe drinking water free from the presence of heavy metals and other poisonous elements in every nook and corner of the State.