 "Punjab CM seeks financial support from World Bank to drive growth")
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday solicited support from the World Bank to drive growth, improve public services and enhance the overall quality of life for its citizens.
He showcased the state's strong reform agenda, focusing on fiscal prudence, improved governance and enhanced service delivery as key factors in its quest for financial assistance, an official statement said.
During a meeting with the World Bank's Country Director Auguste Tano Kouame here, Mann said, "The proposed financial assistance is expected to support Punjab's development priorities, including infrastructure development, human resource development, and social welfare initiatives".
The World Bank team that held separate meetings with Bhagwant Mann and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini here included Nataliya Kulichenko, Programme Leader, Sustainable Development India, and Anne Jeannette Glauber, Practice Manager, Environment.
Speaking to PTI here on the sidelines of the meetings, Kouame, shared plans for Punjab for various sectors, including education.
He said WB's first loan to Punjab goes back to 1961 "and we have provided one billion (dollars to the state) since then".
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"In Punjab, we discussed the chief minister's ambition for the state. They have interest in working with us on an education project that is under preparation," Kouame said.
"It's a project that aims to help strong foundational learning by increasing the quality of education curriculum, the second pillar is to help students transition from the first level of education -- primary to secondary and upper secondary and then have them transition to tertiary.
"...the third pillar is to strengthen the teacher training, in service as well as pre-service. The fourth pillar is to improve the school management system," he said.
Punjab is also benefitting from a national-level project that supports technical universities, technical higher education centres.
"We didn't talk about it in the meeting as such, but it is part of the education agenda that we are supporting in Punjab," he said.
He said the state government has interest in many areas that are really important for Punjab, one is air quality management.
"We are talking to them and they are very interested. They would like us to present to them what we are doing in other states, so they can also see what they can do in Punjab on air quality," he said, adding that Punjab also wants to invest in water preservation.
Mann said the state government is reviving old water resources and trying to provide canal water to maximum part of the irrigation land, thereby reducing the consumption of electricity on one hand and checking the depletion of ground water on the other hand.
He said lining of canals, reviving of old water courses are being done so that farmers can use maximum surface water.
Mann said due to strenuous efforts of the state government in the last two years, the ground-water level has increased around one metre.
The Punjab CM said the state government has designed a programme for solarisation of agricultural pump sets, adding that it will increase the income of farmers manifold.
Further, Mann said the state is mulling to incentivise farmers to switch away from paddy. As per the statement, the Chief Minister said "rice is not the staple diet of Punjab but farmers of the state are cultivating paddy to meet the need of the entire nation".
Mann said there are alternative crops such as pulses, maize and others but the need of the hour for value addition of these crops is to encourage farmers.
Expressing concern over the presence of lead and heavy metal in ground water, Mann urged the World Bank to launch a project on the lines of one launched in Uttar Pradesh.
The statement added that Kouame acknowledged the state's potential for growth and development and expressed its willingness to support the state's endeavours, recognising the importance of a strong and resilient public financial management framework.