The Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Punjab, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa today held consultations with the senior officers of the NABARD and PEDA aimed at the overall transformation of the villages. The issues touched upon in the meeting as part of the transformation strategy included Widening and Strengthening the link roads, Concretization of the ‘Kuchcha’ pathways, Installing solar lights, cleaning the ponds and draining of water.The minister instructed the PEDA officials to frame proposals at the earliest for availing the assistance from the schemes for the villages being run by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy so as to ensure that these are taken up with the concerned officials of the ministry. Apart from this, the minister also issued directions to the Panchayat Department that a report be sent to him after identifying the villages in order to derive maximum benefit from all the central schemes.It was also decided in the meeting to get prepared a proposal from the officials of the concerned departments for strengthening as well as widening of the link roads and the same would be sent to the NABARD to ensure required assistance.Divulging more, the Panchayat Minister also said that his department would also send a specialized proposal to the NABARD after getting the same prepared from the concerned officials. The proposal would be aimed at the development of the villages of the border areas. He also disclosed that NABARD has promised maximum assistance in this regard.The meeting was also attended by Punjab Chief General Manager of NABARD Mr. JPS Bindra, Assistant General Manager Mr. Kailash Pahwa and Assistant General Manager (PEDA) Mr. Jaspal Singh.