Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said a Kandi development ministry will be established to develop the state's sub-mountainous region on holistic lines if his party comes to power in the 2027 Punjab assembly polls.
Badal was addressing a rally as part of the party's 'Punjab Bachao' campaign.
Badal promises irrigation boost for Kandi region
Asserting that all issues of the people of the Kandi belt would be taken up for resolution, Badal said, "We will provide deep tubewells to fulfil your irrigation needs."
Irrigation facilities available through the Kandi canal will be further augmented and drip irrigation and underground pipelines will be laid to take water to each and every field, he said.
He also said a medical college would be established in Nawansheher and a veterinary college in this town.
Badal urged people to support SAD, claiming that the party always delivered on its promises. He spoke on how "some forces" wanted to push Punjab back into the dark era of the 1980s.
"These forces are even attacking me as they understand that I stand for peace and communal harmony," he said.
He asserted that SAD stood for "sarbat da bhala" (welfare of all) and had always stood with every community in the state.
"If we created the Heritage Street near Sri Darbar Sahib, we also beautified Sri Durgiana Mandir and the Ram Teerath Sthal," he said, while speaking about the erstwhile Akali regime.
Badal targets AAP over power cuts, corruption
Targeting the AAP government over the power situation, Badal asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to tell where the 12-hour daytime power supply was, which the AAP leader pompously announced that his government was giving from various stages.
"Punjabis are suffering from 10-hour power cuts daily," he claimed while promising that SAD would make Punjab power surplus again once it took over the reins of the state.
He also took on the AAP government over the issue of corruption.
Badal further slammed the chief minister for inducting gangster-turned-politician Gurpreet Singh Sekhon into AAP.
"How can the AAP government counter the scourge of gangsters if it is in cahoots with it?" he asked.
He accused the government of silencing democratic dissent by talking about the alleged custodial torture of Mohanjit Singh Sheron who showed a black flag to the chief minister and the subsequent suicide of Gulzar Singh who questioned Finance Minister Harpal Cheema over the supply of drugs in his village Turbanjara in Sangrur.
SAD's promised welfare measures for Punjab
Speaking about his action plan for Punjab if his party formed the next government in the state, Badal said beneficiaries would be given 50 kg of wheat at Rs 4 per kg under the 'atta-daal' scheme, Shagun benefit would be increased to Rs 1 lakh and the old age pension to Rs 3,100 per month.
He also announced that the Scheduled Caste (SC) scholarship scheme would be revived and the state would give 75 per cent subsidy on animal husbandry projects.
He also announced that youth would be eligible for a Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan for entrepreneurship development and minimum support price (MSP) would be fixed for milk.