Clear pending irrigation projects quickly: State to Centre

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

New Delhi, December 7

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Centre to expeditiously clear a basket of irrigation projects pending with it.

This comes in the midst of the Opposition in the state flexing its muscle, especially the Congress in the wake of the appointment of Captain Amarinder Singh as state Congress president.

During his meeting with Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti which lasted for about 40 minutes, Badal stressed on the importance and urgency of the projects in view of the state being a predominantly agrarian one.

Emerging from the meeting, Badal said the meeting was cordial. The Union minster was sympathetic to the issues raised by him, he said.

A functionary of the state government said the pending projects flagged during the meeting were worth Rs 5,237 crore, including the re-lining of Rajasthan and Sirhind feeders at a cost of Rs 2,126 crore.

A battery of senior officers of the state accompanied Badal to the meeting.

The Chief Minister batted for the immediate release of Rs 1,375 crore for the project of rehabilitation, renovation and modernisation of various distributaries along with allied works in the Punjab UBDC system in border districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur.

Moreover, he also sought Rs 918 crore for renovation and modernisation of canals being fed from the Sutlej. The project had already been sanctioned by the Water Surface Ministry in November.

The other irrigation projects raised by him during the discussion included Swan river flood management and channelisation of the Ghaggar river.

The state government claimed that Uma Bharti assured that the issues raised would be examined and requisite funds relating to projects and proposals with the ministry would be released at the earliest.