Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Friday solicited fulsome support and cooperation from the World Bank to further combat the major problems being confronted by the state.
During a meeting with World Bank Country Director for India Auguste Tano Kouamé, the Chief Minister presented a strong case for financial assistance to the state. He highlighted the state government’s commitment to fiscal and institutional resilience besides emphasizing the need for financial support to drive growth, improve public services and enhance the overall quality of life for its citizens.
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The Chief Minister said that proposed financial assistance is expected to support Punjab’s development priorities, including infrastructure development, human resource development and social welfare initiatives.
He said that with this significant development, Punjab is poised to take a major leap forward in its journey towards prosperity and growth. Chief Minister Mann said that environment is the major thrust area of the state government and it is giving top priority to conservation of Ground water.
The Chief Minister said that 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.
The Chief Minister further said that the state government has designed a program for solarization of agricultural pump sets adding that it will increase the income of farmers manifold. He said that in five years the state government can rapidly solarize the major part of the Agricultural pump sets.
The Chief Minister said that Rice is not the staple diet of Punjab but the farmers of the state are cultivating paddy to meet the needs of the entire nation. He said that there are alternative crops such as pulses, maize and others but need of the hour for value addition of these crops to encourage the farmers.
Giving an affirmative response to the issues raised by the Chief Minister, Auguste Tano Kouamé said that they are mulling the idea to cooperate in this sector as the World Bank already cooperated on a project in Uttar Pradesh.
Batting for regular meetings with the state government, he said that this will streamline major things. The chairman said that the World Bank team was impressed by Punjab’s determination to implement transformative reforms.
Auguste Tano Kouamé also acknowledged the state’s potential for growth and development and expressed their willingness to support Punjab’s endeavors, recognizing the importance of a strong and resilient public financial management framework. He said that the World Bank is looking for cooperation areas and Fiscal prudence, Data Sharing, Services in large cities.
