IEP Chandigarh, December 29

          One of the major city in Doaba, Hoshiarpur will get a state of the art vacuum cleaning machine in the New Year. The successful trial of this machine was done last evening in the presence of Cabinet Minister and Hoshiarpur MLA Bram Shanker Jimpa.

          Jimpa said that Hoshiarpur have taken a step forward in the direction of realizing the dream of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to make the state clean and beautiful. He said that the purchase of this machine including the truck will be around Rs. 55-60 lakh. Starting the trial of vacuum cleaning machine from bus stand chowk Hoshiarpur, Jimpa said that this machine will soon be available for cleaning streets & roads of the city. After the purchase of this machine, Hoshiarpur will join the selected cities of Punjab where cleanliness is being done with such modern machines.

          He said that this gift has been given to the residents of Hoshiarpur so that the city can be cleaned without blowing dust. Bram Shanker Jimpa said that he is trying his best to make Hoshiarpur a dust & garbage free city and efforts have been already started to achieve this target.  “I am trying my best for the overall development of Hoshiarpur and the pace of development will be accelerated in the near future” Jimpa added.

IEP Chandigarh, December 29

The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has taken pro-farmer decisions for the welfare of the farmers of the State in the year-2022.          Giving this information, Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Mr. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the state government had so far released an amount of Rs. 31.70 crore to the kin of 634 farmers, Rs. 5 lakh to each family, who were martyred during the farmers’ agitation. Similarly, as many as 326 family members of the said farmers have been provided government jobs in various departments while the verification process for giving jobs to 98 members is completed whereas the process for government jobs to 210 others is underway, said Dhaliwal.          The Minister also mentioned that the State Government had also fixed Minimum Support Price of Rs. 7275 for per quintal of moong crop under which Rs. 61.85 crore had also been transferred directly to the bank accounts of 15737 farmers. He said that this initiative of Punjab Government was taken to boost the crop diversification, which was received excellent response.             Referring to the Direct Sowing of Paddy, the Minister said that the Punjab Government was encouraging the farmers adopt practice of direct sowing of paddy to save precious natural resource as well as protecting the depleting water table.  He said that the State Government had disbursed payments worth Rs. 25.06 crore to farmers against the total land earmarked during kharif-2022 i.e. 1.69 lakh acres under Rs. 1500 per acre scheme for direct sowing. Punjab Government has increased the sugarcane price by adding Rs. 20 besides releasing Rs. 492 crore to cooperative and private sugar mills so that the payments to be given to the sugarcane growers.            Describing agriculture as a vital part of the State’s economy, Mr. Dhaliwal said that Punjab had contributed in the national food kitty thus paving a way to make the country self-reliant on food security front for the last five decades and has maintained sufficient food stock for the country. During the year 2021-22, Punjab has contributed 31% wheat and 21% rice of the country’s food reserves. He said that geographically, Punjab has an area of 50.33 lakh hectares, of which about 41.27 lakh hectares are used for agriculture. He said that the irrigation was being carried out in 40.74 lakh hectares (98.9 percent) while the crop intensity of the state was more than 189 percent. It produces about 18 percent of wheat, 11 percent of rice and 4 percent of cotton, 10 percent of milk, 20 percent of honey and 48 percent of mushrooms in the country.          The Agriculture Minister said that crop diversification was one of the major focus areas of the state government so that the area under paddy-wheat cropping system could be reduced and ground water was protected. Special efforts are being made to increase the area under low water consumption crops like cotton, maize, oilseeds and pulses. He said that in the year 2021 the area under edible oil crops was 31600 hectares which registered an increase to 43900 hectares in the year 2022. He said that apart from providing subsidy on crop residue management equipment, the Punjab government is encouraging the farmers to adopt the latest agri-inputs and techniques to get more benefits by mechanized crop residue management besides saving time and energy.          Mr. Dhaliwal further said that the state government is making concerted efforts to manage the straw waste. He said that as a result of the government’s efforts, the number of farm fires has reduced to 49,922 in 2022 from 71,304 in 2021, which is about 30 percent less.         

IEP Chandigarh, December 29

The Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led State Government had made a firm commitment to all the stakeholders viz. Farmers, Labourers, Millers and Arhtiyas before the start of paddy procurement season about ensuring the uninterrupted procurement. That the Government fully lived up to its commitment is proved by the fact that during the current season, 182.11 Lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) paddy stood procured out of the target of 184.45 LMT. The procurement was made at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 2060 per quintal fixed by the Government of India. 

Guided by the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Mr. Lal Chand Kataruchak, this time no problem was encountered by the farmers in the mandis and procurement as well as lifting was done on time. Within mere 4 hours of the procurement, the payments were credited into the bank accounts of the farmers.

The State Government had set up 1806 traditional purchase centres in the mandis besides declaring as many as 583 public places and 37 rice mills as interim purchase centers for the facilitation of farmers and then the allotments were made. Government procurement agencies including FCI have credited Rs. 37,514 crore into the accounts of the nearly 8 lakh farmers for the paddy procured by the agencies of the State. 

The department has played yeoman’s role apart from the Mandi Board in ensuring hassle free procurement. Besides, the contribution of the Punjab Police in effectively stonewalling the illegal paddy coming from the other States by putting up Nakas at the interstate barriers has also come for appreciation. 

          The custom milling policy of the State Government has garnered praise from the Government of India which has asked the State Government to share its expertise with the other States.

IEP Chandigarh, December 30

Punjab Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann released a poster of ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’ to be organised in the memory of Late Punjab Minister Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora, the father of Mr. Aman Arora, Minister of Information and Public Relations, Punjab.          After release of the poster at CMR here, Mr. Aman Arora said that Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Sunam Super League under the banner of ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’ will be organised and sponsered by Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation at Shaheed Bhai Mati Dass Senior Secondary School, Longowal from February 4 to February 5, 2023.          Pertinently, Babu Bhagwan Dass Arora Memorial Foundation has been organising medical camps and carrying out other social works for the welfare of public for over a decade.          Revealing more details about the ‘Khedan Halqa Sunam Diyan’, the Cabinet Minister said that three categories of sports— Volleyball Shooting, Volleyball Smashing and Tug of War, will be organised to promote sports culture at the ground level as per the commitment of Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann, who is ardent sports lover and himself a good player of volleyball shooting.          Recently, Mann Government had also organised the three-month long sports gala “Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan” to identify hidden talent and thereafter hone that talent to produce international level sportspersons from the state.          The Cabinet Minister said that winner teams of these three events will be bestowed with cash prizes along with trophies.           Mr. Aman Arora informed that Padma Shri heavyweight International Boxer Kaur Singh, Gold medal winner of Asian Games and Padma Shri Sunita Rani, Gold Medalist Athlete of Asian Games, will be felicitated at the tournament. Sports kits will also be distributed to all the participating teams. Last date for registration of teams is January 20, 2023, he added.