Villages of state to get facelift with Rs.4000 crore: Sukhbir

Vanwala (Sri Muktsar Sahib), June 3, 2016: The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, S.Sukhbir Singh Badal today announced that villages of the state would be given a facelift and facilities at par with the urban areas would be extended to them at a cost of Rs.4000 crore besides carrying out all round development of the villages during the course of next 5 years.

Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of a new solar plant of Azure Power here, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Punjab is scripting new success stories with each passing daily and is miles ahead of the other states in terms of developmental index. He informed that Punjab has become the power surplus state while in neighbouring states, power supply is on for a few hours during the entire 24 hour day. He also informed that with the advent of solar plants, power production in Punjab would reach record and unmatched level in near future.

It is significant to mention here that apart from new solar plant at Vanwala, the Punjab Government has helped Azure Power to commence the establishment of 150 MW solar plants in Badal, Bahadurgarh Jadian in Bathinda and Korianwali & Bahadurkhera in Fazilka at a cost of Rs. 798.6 crore.

S. Badal said that establishing of solar energy plants is very important for Punjab to get clean and affordable power. He also informed that those areas have witnessed the increase in income for farmers through solar plants, the soil of which was affected by water logging or suffered from barrenness. He said that the increasing demand for power in such areas can be easily met.

Divulging more details, S. Badal said that as of today, Muktsar district stands at numero uno position in terms of setting up of solar plants and it is the serious endeavor of the state government to encourage other areas of the state also to be aware regarding production of solar energy. Announcing more, he said that the state government is spending Rs. 100 crore on fixing solar lights in 1000 villages.

Castigating those branding Punjabi people as drug addicts, he said that on one hand Punjab is going several notches higher on national development index while on the other hand, anti-Punjab forces are busy in carrying out malicious and mis-information campaign against the state.

Coming to the recruitment front, the Deputy Chief Minister said that drug test would be carried out in the recruitment to the posts of Punjab Police constables. He further informed that drug tests kits worth Rs. 3 crore have been ordered to be used during the testing process. He also revealed that 57000 candidates have filled the froms for constable recruitment in just 2 days and the count is expected to cross 2.50 lakh.

Clearing the picture about development of Punjab, he said that those who everyday brand Punjab as being bankrupt would do very well to know that Punjab occupies top spot in production of Wheat, Paddy, Milk, Honey, Silk, Mushroom and Cycles besides manufacturing maximum number of tractors.

Earlier, S. Badal inaugurated 28 MW capacity solar plant in Killianwali, with cost being Rs. 201 crore, which would generate 420 lakh unit of power.

On the occasion, New and Renewable Energy Minister, Punjab, S. Bikram Singh Majithia said that Punjab is setting new milestones in the field of solar energy and by 2017, there would be 2000 villages receiving power only through solar plants. Informing further, he said that Punjab has maximum number of rooftop solar plants in the country and PM Shri Narendra Modi would honour Punjab on June 7 at vigyan bhawan for this shining achievement.

S. Majithia revealed that recently world’s biggest rooftop solar plant was inaugurated at beas. Divulging further, he said that now street lights of those villages would get free power through solar plants where solar plants would be set up.

Divulging more facts, he said that Punjab has witnessed an investment of more than Rs. 12000 crore in solar sector besides generating jobs form the youth too.

Among those present on the occasion included MLA S. Gurtej Singh Ghuriana, Chairman Punjab Agro Industries Limited S. Dyal Singh Kolianwali, Vice-Chairman Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) S. Kulwant Singh Keetu, OSD to the Deputy Chief Minister, S. Charanjit Singh Brar, OSD to the Chief Minister, S. Balkaran Singh, Chairman Co-operative Bank S. Tejinder Singh Middukhera, Senior akali leader S. Avtar Singh Vanwala, CEO PEDA Dr. Amarpal Singh, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Sunit Jarangal, SSP S. Gurpreet Singh Gill, Chairman Azure Power S. Harkanwal Singh Wadhwa and Co-Founder S. Preet Sandhu.