Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today assured the farm labour unions of the state to take appropriate steps for immediate resolution of the problems being faced by them.Interacting with a delegation of farm labour unions, who called on him at Punjab Bhawan this morning, the Chief Minister assured them that pending amount of MNREGA workers worth Rs 177 crore would be released to them in the current month. Mr. Badal also informed that from April 1 the payment of beneficiaries would be transferred directly to their accounts thereby immensely benefitting them.On the issue of disbursement of compensation to the cotton pickers, the Chief Minister said that the state government has already released fund worth Rs 64 crore to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) besides identifying the eligible farm labourers. He said that the work for disbursing the compensation was being started and it would be completed within a month.
The Chief Minister also assured the delegation to look into the matter of cancelation of FIRs registered against the workers by the Police during various agitations.The Chief Minister also asked the Rural Development and Panchayat Department to expedite the process of giving ownership rights of the already approved/ allotted plots to such labourers. He said that swift action would be taken by the department after any resolution passed by the village Panchayat in this regard.Dwelling on another issue pertaining to the arrears of Power bills, the Chief Minister asked the POWERCOM authorities that the decision regarding collection of arrears would be made later. However, he asked the authorities to immediately restore the residential power connections of such workers adding that the arrears must not be added in coming bills.Prominent amongst others present in the meeting included Cabinet Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Mr. Chunni Lal Bhagat, Jathedar Tota Singh and Mr. Sikander Singh Maluka, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mrs. Farzaana Aalam, Chief Secretary Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretaries Mr. Jagpal Singh Sandhu and Mr. KBS Sidhu, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Health Mrs. Vinnie Mahajan, Principal Secretary School Education Mr. G Vajralingam, Secretary Rural Development Mr. Deepinder Singh and Chairman POWERCOM Mr. KD Chaudhary.