Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought Australian help in the fields of education, skill-training, agriculture and urban development.
Sidhu sought this help when Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu called on him here at his official residence this afternoon, an official spokesman said.
Badal said Punjab is a vibrant state and vies for new vistas in the arena of mutual interest where both Punjab and Australia could benefit from each other's expertise in fields like agriculture, food- processing and horticulture.
He urged Sidhu to help the state by providing high-yield quality wheat seeds to enhance its production.
Badal also requested her to initiate a farmer-exchange programme between Punjab and Australia to enable them to learn new techniques and modern practices to maximise yield.
He impressed upon the visiting Australian High Commissioner to tie up with their educational institutions and universities in the field of higher and technical education.
He evinced interest for collaboration with the Australian government to start new courses in skill development to enable the unemployed youth in the state to be gainfully employed.
Badal offered the Australian envoy to set up healthcare and research institutions in the upcoming medicity in Mullanpur near Chandigarh.
Responding to the issues raised by the chief minister, Sidhu apprised Badal that the Australian government was already in the advanced stage of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Punjab Institute of Sports to provide training to sportspersons as well as the coaches.
She said the Australian government was in the process to ink another MoU with National Institute of Sports, Patiala, and expressed gratitude to the Punjab government for having inked an MoU with Australia in the field of sports.
She also offered to help the state in developing Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar as smart cities.
The Chief Minister directed the Chairman of Punjab
State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to clear the backlog of general category tubewell connections pending since 1992 at the earliest.
He also asked the Chairman to immediately release the tubewell connections under priority category of 2.5 and five acres. Likewise, Badal also asked him to issue tubewell connections for farmers having land near the border fence on the top priority.
Badal also asked the Additional Chief Secretaries Development and Revenue to seek legal opinion from Legal Remembrancer (LR) for making suitable amendments in the Land Tenure Act 1953 for facilitating the farmers to get better prices of their produce.
Badal said that "the current provisions of the Act were archaic and needed immediate amendments in the larger interests of the farmers."
The Chief Minister also batted for roping in more NGOs to check the menace of stray cattle in the state.
Expressing concern over the heavy toll of human life and substantial loss suffered by the farmers due to this menace, Badal assured the delegation that the state government was fully committed to control this hazard.
Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to not share even a single drop of water with other states, the Chief Minister said that the state government was making every effort to save the legitimate share of state in river waters.
He said that the state government was already pursuing the case effectively in the Apex court and every effort was being made to save the share of river waters of the state.
