‘No coal supplies, expect long power cuts soon’, Food and Civil Supplies Minister

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 17

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Saturday said owing to farmers’ strike and “rail roko”, the coal supplies in Punjab had fallen dismally.

He said with the remaining supplies, the thermal plants could run for just about four to five days after which there could be long power cuts in the state.

Ashu, who was here to launch the smart village campaign phase-2, said the state might have to purchase power from the Central grid. He said the state government wanted the Centre to quickly resolve the farmers’ issues and protests against the farm Acts so as to avert this problem.

Coming down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) over farmers’ issues, Ashu said the Centre did not have an iota of pain being faced by the farmers and the SAD had been fighting just to save its political ground in Punjab.

Kick-starting 3,201 development projects worth Rs 149.21 crore in 106 villages of Jalandhar, Ashu participated in a video conference held at local district administrative complex. He was accompanied by MLAs Pargat Singh, Rajinder Beri, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Avtar Singh Junior Bawa Henry, Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori.

He listed out the works to be done, including upgrade of road infrastructure, streetlight systems, lying of new sewage lines, setting up of Thapar model ponds, interlocking tiles, sheds in cremation grounds, solid waste management, disposal of sewage waste, construction of panchayat ghars, new playgrounds, community centre, etc.

Ashu further added that eight villages of Jalandhar East block had been selected for the second phase, followed by nine villages in Bhogpur block, nine in Mehatpur, nine in Noormahal, nine in Phillaur, 10 in Nakodar, 10 in Lohian, 10 in Jalandhar west, 10 in Rurkan Jalan, 11 in Adampur, and 11 villages in Shahkot blocks.

The minister said Rs14.67 crore would be spent on the development projects in Jalandhar east block. Similarly, Rs25.26 crore would be spent in Jalandhar west, Rs12.85 crore in Adampur, Rs13.26 crore in Bhogpur, Rs16.90 crore in Nakodar, Rs18.56 crore in Phillaur, Rs10.76 crore in Shahkot, Rs10.23 crore in Noormahal, Rs8.32 crore in Rurkan Kalan, Rs10.55 crore in Lohain, and Rs78.05 crore in Mehatpur block.

The opening ceremony was held simultaneously in 66 locations of the district in which a large number of sarpanches and panches took part through video conference. The participation of panchayats was observed as a step to enable and empower them to ensure the complete facelift of their villages.

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