Warns any attempt to disrupt Law & Order in view of upcoming Dera chief verdict
Chandigarh, 18 August: Opposing the central government’s decision to extend special incentives to the hill states, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday said he would pursue Punjab’s demand for extending similar incentives to the border areas and Kandi belt. Talking to media at the Punjab Kala Bhawan after inaugurating a Photo Journalists Welfare Association exhibition, the Chief Minister said Punjab’s Kandi and the border areas also had special problems and deserved to be put at par with the hill states in terms of the incentives given by the central government. His government, said Captain Amarinder, had even earlier raised the issue with the Centre and would pursue the case even more aggressively now that the decision on the hill states had been taken.
In response to a question on the upcoming verdict on Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Ram Rahim, the Chief Minister made it clear that nobody would be allowed to disturb the state’s law and order. He said he had directed the police department to remain alert against any attempt to disrupt peace in Punjab. Peace has to be maintained at all costs in order to ensure the state’s progress, he added. To a question on the T Haq Committee findings and recommendations on the crop loan waiver issue, the Chief Minister said he had received the report and would study the same and take appropriate decisions in the interest of the farmers. The additional loan liability his government would need to incur in order to repay the loans of the farmers was a necessity for helping the beleaguered farming community, said the Chief Minister, in response to another question.
