Punjab govt forms core groups to study various problems

Chandigarh, Jul 29 (UNI) The Punjab Government today decided to constitute four core groups to study ways and means to combat the peculiar problems related to scarcity of drinking water, scanty irrigation facilities, eratic power supply and menace of wild animals that had resulted in substantial damage to the standing crops besides loss of human life and property in the Kandi belt bordering Himachal Pradesh and the 'Bet' areas, on both sides of the rivers flowing through the state.

These core groups would be headed by the Ministers of Water Supply and Sanitation, Forests and Wildlife, PWD (B&R), Irrigation and Power.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the Sub-Mountain and Kandi Area Advisory Council held here. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Presiding over the meeting, Mr Badal said that these core groups would also comprise the MLAs from the Kandi and 'Bet' areas along with the Administrative Secretaries of the respective departments to take stock of the situation and suggest remedial measures to overcome these hardships. On the basis of the consolidated report of these core groups to be submitted within a month, a final report would be forwared to the central government for seeking additional funds to tackle the problems in a result oriented manner on the pattern of the central grants meant for the Border Area Development Programme.

The MLAs from Kandi area who were present in the meeting demanded repeal of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) on the grounds that it had hampered the growth of these areas as even the basic civic amenities of drinking water, sewerage, electricity, irrigation, road network could not be provided to the residents.

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