After the successful allocation of 250 MW capacity solar power projects, the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) has decided to issue tenders inviting bids for allocation of 300 MW capacity bio

Thermal plant at Mukerian set to become a reality

The proposed 1320 MW Mukerian thermal plant to be taken up for commissioning by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is set to become a reality with the Union Coal ministry allocating a 229 million tonne coal block in West Bengal to Punjab.

The move is expected to cut sand price by half

Sand may soon be available through open warehouses that too at half the market price. The government has decided to dig up river-beds for providing sand to consumers at controlled rates. The SAD-BJP Government has been drawing flak because of the exorbitant price of sand. There are also allegations that a sand mafia is functioning in the state.

The Punjab Government is considering reducing taxes on both wheat and basmati in certain thrust areas to make diversification a reality in the state besides giving a fillip to the food processing industry.

Sources said the Food Processing Department had made a proposal for doing away with a majority of the taxes on durum wheat and basmati meant for export and processing purposes.

Punjab is passing through a phase of ‘fiscal stress’ and is borrowing heavily to pay interest on loans, leaving little money for development.

For farmers of Droli Bhai and Ghal Kalan villages, which are among the biggest in this constituency, the lack of canal water is the biggest issue.

Worst sufferers are the farmers whose land is situated at the tail-end of canals. Seventy-year-old Sukhdev Singh’s farm house is located 50 m from the Kingwa distributary in Droli Bhai village. His seven-acre farm is situated alongside the water body. But this is not helping him in any way. Sometimes water does not even come up to the level of the outlet leading to his fields.

Increased organic farming of wheat and paddy crops could be counter-productive for Punjab and could also jeopardise the national food security, according to a six-month study of organic as well as intensive farming systems in the state by the State Farmers Commission.