Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL) to formulate a new policy for 2012-13 to grant fresh tubewell connections to the marginal and small farmers on priority . A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Mr. Badal held here at CMO this afternoon to review the issues related to the agriculture sector in general and for the welfare of farmers in particular which was also attended by the Chief Secretary and the senior officers of the state government.According to the spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, Mr. Badal monitored the progress of Agriculture, Power, Finance, Revenue, Co-operation and Welfare departments especially in context of the pending issues related to the farm sector. Mr. Badal categorically said that the state government was committed for the welfare of beleaguered peasantry which was already facing lot of hardships due to squeezed margins of profitability on account of non remunerative MSP. He asked the officers present in the meeting to resolve these issues to the satisfaction of the farmers on the top priority. On the issue of pending arrears of Rs.357 crore on account of Tubewell Bills relating to the period when tariff was imposed on farm sector, the Chief Minister was informed that the state government had reimbursed PSPCL on this count, which had taken off these arrears from the accounts of the concerned farmers. Regarding the issue of land acquisition for the Gobindpura Thermal plant in Mansa district, the Chief Minister directed that the process of giving a job to an eligible member of the family whose land had been acquired for the setting of the plant should be expedited. Likewise, the compensation package of Rs.3 lakh for the family of landless labourers should also be granted forthwith. Mr. Badal also directed for a quick disposal of matter relating to exchange of land and its de-notification in a time bound manner.Referring to the issue of suicides committed by farmers, the Chief Minister asked the Financial Commissioner Revenue to examine all such cases for prompt payment of compensation as per the prescribed norms forthwith. In this regard, he directed the compensation of two installments of Rs.1 lakh each should be released immediately and in future such cases would be jointly verified by the deputy commissioner and SSP within one month. Compensation of Rs.6 lakhs for the farmers who were injured during the protest was also released out of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to Deputy Commissioner Mansa for disbursement. Mr. Badal also directed the Chief Secretary to regularly monitor the progress of the issues pertaining to the peasantry to instill a sense of confidence and security besides updating him on time to time. He also said that he was ever ready to take up these issues with the Government of India (GoI) at concerned Ministry’s level for early resolution, if the officers needed his intervention at any point of time. It was also decided in the meeting to give a job to the next of kin of eight persons who lost their lives in various farm agitations across the state and also of the two persons who were killed in police action at village Akalian in district Mansa at the earliest. Prominent amongst other present in the meeting included Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, Financial Commissioner Revenue Navneet Singh Kang, Financial Commissioner Development GS Sandhu, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Home DS Bains, Secretary Power Anirudh Tiwari, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gagandip Singh Brar and CMD PSPCL KD Chaudhary.