Writeup AP 2011-12 - Punjab State Planning Board

ecommended by 13th Finance Commission would be utilized to redress the problem of anti
water logging in south western districts of state.
53. Punjab, the only riparian state to rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ravi often suffers
damages caused by floods whereas the non riparian states like Rajasthan and Haryana which
are beneficiaries in water supplies of these rivers, remain immune to the adverse action of
floods. The cost of flood protection works and losses due to floods in these rivers needs to be
completely borne by the Government of India.
54. The grant under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), is 90% in
case of special category states and 25% in case of non-special category states. Punjab has
been categorized as non-special category state. Since Punjab is the major contributor of food
grains to the central pool it should be categorized as a special category State. Besides, the
condition laid down by GoI, of one-for-one for the funding of projects under AIBP should
also be waived off as it is a bottleneck in taking up new projects and also leads to delays and
adverse impact on the economy of the State.
55. The state government has already put into place the Participatory Irrigation
Management (PIM) programme where farmers have been entrusted with the work of
management of distribution of water in the area earmarked for supply of water at the outlet
head and maintenance of field channels at their own cost. The state government is
contemplating a Comprehensive Unified Legislation, which will cover all the inter-related
issues concerning ground water, participatory irrigation management and canals.
POWER
56. The government is fully aware that power is the most crucial factor to ensure
all round growth and development of the State. Therefore, relentless efforts are being made
to make Punjab a power surplus state in the near future and to ensure reliable, affordable and
round the clock availability of electric power supply to the people. An outlay of Rs. 3300
crore is provided for the power sector which constitutes 30% of the total state plan. Out of
Rs. 3300 crore, Rs. 1270 crore would be spent on strengthening of transmission systems, Rs.
684 crore on generation and Rs. 1346 crore for distribution systems. Augmenting and
strengthening of the transmission and distribution systems to ensure proper supply of power
in both urban as well as in rural areas, reduction of losses, conservation of energy, load
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