In a unique initiative aimed at giving a ‘healing touch’ to the poor and disadvantaged sections of the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today launched the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Beema Yojna (BPSSBY) for providing cashless Health care services to the families below the poverty line (BPL).Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Chief Minister, while addressing the mammoth gathering, said that the scheme would give a big reprieve to the people of this unprivileged sections by providing them the quality health care services, free of cost. He said that under the scheme the beneficiaries would be issued the smart cards which would enable to them to avail the benefit of cashless health care facilities upto Rs 30000 per annum. Mr. Badal said that the leading insurance companies of the country have been roped in by the state government to give this unique benefit to the poor people.Underscoring the need for providing quality Health care services to the people, the Chief Minister reiterated that the state government was committed for making Punjab a ‘Healthy and disease free’ state. He said that the state government has spent Rs 350 crore for upgrading the Health infra structure in the state adding that the war on cancer has been declared by the Punjab government under which special emphasis was being given on providing quality treatment to the patient inflicted with this fatal disease. Mr. Badal said that apart from it the cancer patients were being given subsidized medicines by the state government.
Likewise the Chief Minister said that a state-of-the art cancer hospital was coming up at Mullanpur near Chandigarh on the lines of the Tata Memorial Cnancer hospital, Mumbai for which the state government has already allotted 50 acres of land. Mr. Badal said that he had personally requested the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to lay down the foundation stone of this project to give relief to the cancer patients of the state. He further said that a 100 bedded Cancer hospital at Bathinda would also become operational early next year to provide quality cancer treatment and diagnostic facilities to the people.Squarely blaming the Union government for the menace of drug addiction in the state, the Chief Minister said that the Central security agencies have completely failed in checking the unabated supply of drugs from across the border. Likewise he said that the Centre government has never paid any heed for banning the open sale of Puppy husk in Rajasthan, due to which it was regularly being supplied in state. Mr. Badal asked the Government of India (GoI) to immediately take steps for checking the supply of drugs in the state.
Holding the Congress party responsible for the partition of the country, the Chief Minister said that the pision of the nation could have been avoided if the Congress had desired so. Mr. Badal said that it was on record that the official machinery under the Congress government has even insulted the Punjabi refugees by terming them ‘criminal minded’ persons. He said that by piding the country, the Congress has given a severe blow to the development of the state adding that the situation has further aggravated as the successive Congress governments at the centre have meted out step motherly treatment to the state. Mr. Badal said that despite of enormous contribution of the state in national freedom struggle and making the country self reliant in food production, Punjab has been deprived of its legitimate share in river waters and even from its capital.
Lashing out at the Congress led UPA government at the centre, the Chief Minister said that every strata of the society was suffering due to wrong and ill conceived policies of the Union government. Mr. Badal said that the anti-farmer’s policies of the Union government have broken the backbone of the state’s peasantry due to which they were reeling under a huge debt of Rs 32000 crore. He said that the authorities in Centre government formulate the schemes while sitting in their posh offices without bothering about the interests of the people.Exhorting the people to rout the Congress out from the Centre, the Chief Minister said that the coming general elections were very decisive for the state and its people as the electorate was once again on the verge of making or marring the prospects of Punjab. He said that it was the high time that Congress led UPA government at the centre must be shown the door else the people of the state would have to suffer again for next five years under the misrule of Congress government. Mr. Badal said that the people must ensure that the NDA government was constituted at centre to usher a new era of unprecedented development in the state.
The Chief Minister further said that the state government would give a complete facelift to the state in the coming years. He announced that Rs 5 crore would be soon issued to every assembly segment of the state so as to further give impetus to the overall development of the state. Likewise Mr. Badal said that thrust was also being laid on providing the basic civic amenities in all the town and cities of the state within two years for which the Punjab government has embarked a major scheme.Earlier in his address, the Deputy Chief Minister said that this scheme would benefit the poor and underprivileged strata of society which could not afford the quality treatment facilities due to their poor economic condition. He said that this scheme reflected the pro-poor vision and the desire of the Chief Minister to serve the weaker sections of society. Taking a dig at Congress led UPA government at centre, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that while the Union government had aggravated the woes of common man by ever increasing inflation, the Chief Minister had extended a helping hand to them by providing them Atta-Dal at much subsidized rates.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that Mr. Badal had always worked for the upliftment of the economic weaker sections of society and the Mai Bhago Istri Vidya, Pension, Shagun, Dr Hargobind Khurana Scholarship and others schemes have been launched by the state government to facilitate these sections. He said that likewise Aashiward scheme has been launched by the state government to enable the students of weaker sections to pursue higher education. Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that not only this but many more schemes for the public welfare were in pipeline.The Deputy Chief Minister further said that the coming three years would give a further fillip to the ongoing development of the state as many ambitious projects were on cards. He said that Rs 14000 crore was being spent for the four and six laning of the every major road in the state. Likewise Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that due to the concerted efforts of the state government, Punjab would become the Power Surplus state of the country from the next month. He also announced that efforts were afoot to make Fazilka the leading districts of the state.The Chief Minister was accompanied by Cabinet Minister Mr. Surjit Kumar Jiyani, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mrs. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Lok Sabha MP Mr Sher Singh Ghubaya, MLA Mr. Gurtej Singh, Chairperson Social Welfare Board Mrs. Vijay Laxmi Bhadu, Principal Secretary Health Mrs. Vinnie Mahajan, his Special Principal Secretary Mr. KJS Cheema, Director Punjab Health System Corporation Mr. Hussan Lal and Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg.