Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said his government has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in resolving the agrarian crisis in the state.
"State government was in touch with the Prime Minister to resolve farm crisis and sought immediate intervention of the Centre to form a high level committee of farm experts to pull the economy from the current agrarian crisis," Badal said.
He accused the successive Congress governments at the Centre of formulating "anti-farmer policies" which "have been forcing" the beleaguered farmers to end their lives.
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"Congress-led governments at the Centre for over six decades have absolutely ignored the hardships faced by the farmers," he alleged.
At a Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi Assembly constituency, the Chief Minister said the state government had hardly any role in fixing the costs of agriculture inputs like diesel, pesticides, fertilizers and even the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which primarily fell within the domain of the Centre.
He said the state government had initiated "certain steps to put the derailed agrarian economy back on track by way of giving subsidy to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore annually to PSPCL" in return of free power in the farm sector and enhancing the natural calamity fund from Rs 3,400 to Rs 8,000 per acre.
Badal said the state government has started first-of-its-kind scheme to provide interests free crop loans worth Rs 50,000 to the farmers.
"In a "historic decision" it has been decided that all the farmers would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs 50,000 and an insurance of Rs 5 lakh in case of accidental death or incapacitation of head of family," he said.
Terming the 'Punjab Dialogue' programme started by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a "flop show", he said AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal was "least concerned" about the rights of the state, which was evident from the fact of submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court by the Delhi government regarding the river waters.
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"Kejriwal cited the reason of disintegration of country on the stand taken by the Punjab government over SYL issue and termed it as unconstitutional in the affidavit filed in the Apex Court," Badal alleged.
He said Kejriwal belonged to Haryana and his "infatuation and affection" with his state was all the more natural.
He also noted that the people of Punjab were well aware about Kejriwal's stand and they have turned back to his program 'Punjab Dialogue', which was now gradually losing its sheen.
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Badal said it was bounden duty of the state government to preserve rich cultural heritage for the future generations.
He said it goes to the credit of the SAD-BJP government which undertook momentous task to preserve cultural heritage of Punjab through state-of-the-art memorials and monuments like Virasat-E-Khalsa, Chotta and Wada Ghallughara, Baba Banda Singh War Memorial, State War Heroes Memorial & Museum.
Apart from these, Jang-E-Azadi Memorial, Baba Jeevan Singh (Bhai Jaita), Guru Ravidas Memorial and Bhagwan Valmiki Sthal would soon be opened.
"Concerted efforts of the state government in this regard were to perpetuate the glorious and rich legacy of our great culture especially amongst the younger generations so as to enable them to connect with their roots," he said.
The Chief Minister said the Congress leadership was well known for "betrayal with Punjab since the times of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who had promised to create Punjabi Suba on linguistic lines on which they later backtracked".
Paying homage to those who made sacrifices for formation of Punjabi suba, Badal said every Punjabi was indebted to these sons of soil who made this distant dream a reality.
He said it was on record that nearly 59,000 people were imprisoned and 43 attained martyrdom during this struggle.
Reminding the people about the "notorious" past of Congress, the Chief Minister said the Congress has irrelevantly meddled in the social, political, economic and even religious affairs of the state.
Assailing the Congress for its anti-Punjab stance, the Chief Minister said it has always pursued divisive politics for the sake of its vested political interests.
Badal said due to around 60 years of misrule of Congress, the country was confronting several social maladies like unemployment, illiteracy, poverty and others.
In his address, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rechristened the year 2016 as the period of reconstructing Punjab and putting it on high growth trajectory.
Lauding the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for giving a boost to overall development of the state, he said that in the past decade Punjab has witnessed unparalleled development.
Jaitley said that though the long rule of Congress proved "detrimental" for the peace and progress of the state, the NDA government at Centre and the alliance government in Punjab have restored its pristine glory within a short span.
He said the sole motive of SAD-BJP alliance was to unite Punjab and promote the ethos of communal harmony, peace and brotherhood amongst the people. He said that during the black days of terrorism, the alliance healed the wounds of people and brought normalcy back in the state.
In his address, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said that even after the formation of Punjab, successive Congress governments denied the state its capital, Punjabi speaking areas and even legitimate share in river waters.
The Deputy Chief Minister vowed to fight till all these territorial issues were resolved.
In his address, Union Minister and Punjab BJP President Vijay Sampla lauded the Deputy Chief Minister for giving facelift to the holy city. He complimented the Chief Minister for taking steps for preservation of glorious heritage of the state.
