Aiming to accelerate the pace of development works in the state, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday announced the government would spend Rs.3,500 crore on strengthening urban infrastructure.
Presiding over a meeting here called to review the status of urban projects, he said the state would develop a world-class infrastructure in the towns and cities and make them cleaner.
Badal said to give practical shape to the state urban mission, Rs.1,500 crore have been released to the department of local government and directions have been issued to release another instalment of the same amount.
He asked the local bodies department to accord priority to developing and strengthening roads and streets in towns where sewerage and water supply works have been completed.
The deputy chief minister said the pre-audit of development projects under the urban mission should not hamper the pace of work at any cost.
The Punjab government is spending Rs.10,000 crore on provisioning and strengthening development projects in both urban and rural missions, he said.
CONGRESS, AAP WANT TO TURN PUNJAB INTO DESERT: BADAL
Urging people not to spare water from Punjab's rivers to other states, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday said the Congress and AAP wanted to turn the state into a desert.
Addressing public meetings in Muktsar Sahib district, the chief minister said these parties were inimical to the development of Punjab as they were weaving plans to deprive the Punjabis of their river waters.
Cautioning the people not to fell prey to "malicious propaganda" of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, he said both these parties were hell bent upon ruining the state.
Soliciting the support of people for saving the waters of Punjab's rivers, Badal said: "All of us will have to struggle relentlessly to ensure that not even a single drop of water is taken away from us."
Criticising the AAP leadership for adopting double standards over sharing the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water with neighbouring Haryana, Badal said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's anti-Punjab mindset had been exposed in its affidavits submitted in the Supreme Court.
He said Kejriwal hailed from Haryana and so was naturally inclined towards safeguarding the interests of his parent state and nothing good for Punjab could be expected from him.
The Punjab assembly has passed a resolution to allow de-notification of acquisition of land for the SYL canal which was done nearly four decades back.
This brought Punjab into direct confrontation with the Haryana government and the apex court.
