Punjab CM seeks farmers' support in checking power theft

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday sought support of the state's farmers' unions to check power theft and create awareness about judicious use of ground water, a fast-depleting resource.

Chairing a meeting with a delegation of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Pannu Group) here, the CM expressed concerns over the alarming trend of power theft, which he said needed to be stopped to make power utility economically viable.

The situation is particularly alarming in the border areas. The chief minister, in an official release, urged the farmers to bring any incident of power theft to the notice of the enforcement wing of Powercom.

He assured the delegation that his government was fully seized of the hardships faced by the farmers and was committed to ensuring their welfare on priority.

On the issue of pending payment of Rs 137.56 crore on account of outstanding electricity bills of domestic consumers up to March 31, 2016, the CM said the matter was already under active consideration of the government.

He directed the principal secretary of the Department of Power to thoroughly examine the issue.

The meeting was informed that the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited had not collected these pending bills so far from various categories of domestic consumers, comprising scheduled castes, non-scheduled castes, below poverty line and backward classes, nor had it disconnected their connections due to non-payment.

Responding to the unions' demand for government jobs to the kin of the farmers killed during various agitations, the chief minister directed the additional chief secretary of Agriculture to bring the necessary agenda in the Council of Ministers.

The additional chief secretary also informed the meeting that the Revenue, Relief, Resettlement and Disaster Management Department had enhanced the rate of compensation to the families of farmers/farm labourers who committed suicide due to indebtedness from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.

Till date, 13 families in Amritsar district and 31 such families of Tarn Taran district have been compensated under the revised policy.

It was also apprised that the state government had provided relief of Rs 4,678 crore to 5.79 lakh eligible small and marginal farmers under the debt relief scheme.

Briefing the CM about criminal cases registered in the past against agitators, DGP (Intelligence) V K Bhawra said eight FIRs were registered by the Punjab Police and nine by the Railway Protection Force.