| A press release from the Punjab government said the Centre will also immediately release Rs 75 crore to help the state start its much talked about Adarsh School Scheme on schedule from the start of the next academic session. |
| An assurance to this effect was given by the Union Finance Minister P Chidambram during the course of his meeting with the Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in New Delhi this evening. |
| Disclosing this, the media advisor to the chief minister, Harcharan Bains, said the centre had also agreed to give the requisite 'advice and recommendation' to the World Bank to enable the state to utilise "technical assistance from the international body for fighting the twin menace of falling water table and water logging." |
| Badal expressed 'total satisfaction' with the outcome of the meeting and thanked the finance minister for his positive response to the state's demand. Badal said this would help expedite work on both the Adarsh School and the anti-water-logging schemes. |
| According to Bains, Badal impressed upon the Centre the need for immediate and effective measures for fighting the falling rate of growth in agricultural production in Punjab which stood at just 2 per cent against the targeted growth of 4 per cent per annum. |
| The chief minister pointed out "contrary to common belief, Punjab does not have adequate surface water and is heavily dependent on ground-water extraction." This, he said, had resulted in the problem of declining water table in about 128 out of 141 blocks of the state. |
| On the other hand, he added, a large part of agricultural areas in the south-western districts of Ferozepur and Mukatsar had been adversely affected by water logging. "As a result, not only is the farm production declining in this 'cotton belt' but poverty is revisiting a major chunk of the population there", he added. |
| Badal further said enhanced NABARD funding would be used to complete the large number of measures like provision of new surface- and sub-surface- drains, installation and rejuvenation of lift pumps to divert seepage of water to deficit areas, etc. |
| The chief minister also drew the finance minister's attention to the efforts of the state government to rehabilitate and rejuvenate the canal infrastructure to ensure optimal utilisation of surface water and to conserve and artificially recharge the ground water, wherever possible. |
| Regarding technical assistance from the World Bank, the chief minister said he had raised these issues with the visiting mission team of the apex bank. It may be pointed out that the Bank could lend this assistance only on advice from the Centre. Chidambram said that this advice would be immediately issued. |
| On Adarsh School Scheme, Badal said funds were required immediately as the state government's efforts to ensure quality education for the poor were in full steam. We are determined to revolutionise the entire educational landscape in Punjab, he added. |
| During the meeting, the chief minister was assisted by senior Akali leader Bawinder Sigh Bhunder, Media Advisor Harcharan Bains, Principal Resident Commissioner Anjali Chuib Duggal, and KJS Cheema, special principal secretary to the chief minister. |
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