Confident of handsome compensation for cotton growers: Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said he has raised the plight of cotton growers of Malwa region with the Centre and is confident of getting handsome compensation for them.
Likewise, the Centre was also considerate to help Punjab in resolving impending sugarcane crisis in the state, he said on the sidelines of the annual 'Babehalli Chinjh' programme here.
The Punjab government was also taking special initiatives to pull sugarcane growers out of the present crisis and also mill owners besides ensuring smooth crushing season, Badal said.
About his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CM said, Modi has assured him that he would resolve all the issues raised during the meeting on priority basis.

Punjab has been immensely benefited with the change of guard at the Centre as the BJP led NDA government has already gifted it with prestigious projects like AIIMS, IIM, Post Graduate Institute of Horticulture Research, Badal said.
Also it game heritage status to the holy city of Amritsar and including Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar under the 'Smart City' project, he added.

The Centre would take appropriate call on other pending issues to the satisfaction of the state government, the CM said.
The state government has always been advocating the cause of corporate federalism under which more powers for the states have been sought, Badal said, adding acceding to this demand the Centre has now accorded more share to the state from the the taxes collected from it.

The share from taxes collected from the state has now been increased from 32 to 42 per cent, he said.
The state government has opened six schools in Jalandhar, Patiala, Amritsar, Bathinda, SAS Nagar and Ludhiana to impart free education to students from economically weaker sections who secured 80 per cent or more marks, Badal said.
Now the state government was opening three more such schools at Ferozepur, Sangrur and Gurdaspur, he added.