PM to lay foundation stone for river linking project

Bhopal: Deputy chief minister Rajendra Shukla briefing reporters about the cabinet decisions said that the date for laying the foundation stone for the Ken-Betwa Link in Chhatarpur is yet to be fixed."Chhatarpur, Panna, Tikamgarh, Niwari, Sheopur, Damoh, Datia, Raisen, Vidisha and Sagar districts will benefit from the project. The cabinet has decided that on the day of the foundation stone ceremony, Kisan Sammelan will be held in these districts," Shukla said.The deputy CM said this project will irrigate over 8.1 lakh hectares in MP's Bundelkhand region and another 2.5 lakh hectares in Uttar Pradesh. "In addition, 41 lakh people will get drinking water supply from this project in MP and 21 lakh in UP," Shukla said.Similarly, on Dec 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Parvati-Kali Sindh-Chambal river-linking project in Jaipur. This will bring 6.1 lakh hectares of farmland under irrigation in 11 districts of Madhya Pradesh, including Guna, Rajgarh, Shivpuri, Dewas, Ujjain, Agar, Mandsaur and Morena.BJP's people's representatives and ministers of the Mohan Yadav govt have been instructed to be in these districts on that day and hold farmers' conventions.CM Yadav will be completing a year in office on Dec 12 and the state cabinet decided to hold ‘Mukhya Mantri Jankalyan Abhyan' from Dec 11 to Jan 26. The target is to hold camps at the ward level in urban areas and panchayats in rural areas to monitor implementation of welfare schemes with beneficiaries."We have 45 schemes giving 63 services to beneficiaries. Our aim is to contact beneficiaries and take feedback from them about the schemes and learn whether the benefits are reaching them. If there are more people who are eligible for the welfare schemes, then their names will be registered," Shukla said. Ministers have been asked to reach the districts they are in-charge of and monitor the committees that will hold the camps.The cabinet also thanked PM Modi for allocating 11 more Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state.In another major decision, the cabinet decided to alter the funding of the Centre's RDSS (Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme) to power distribution companies. "This is an ambitious scheme of the Union govt to strengthen power distribution. Under RDSS, Rs 18,000 crore was sanctioned for MP to improve power distribution companies. The Centre is to fund 60% of the funds and the state 40%. The state cabinet decided that instead of giving the Rs 6,000 crore of the state's share as loans to power distribution companies, they will be given in terms of equity," deputy CM Shukla said. Changing funding through equity will improve the financial conditions of the power distribution companies, he said.The state cabinet has also given in-principle approval for the operation of the centrally sponsored scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM Usha)'. The Central Govt, ministry of education and higher education department had started the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Phase 1.0 and RUSA Phase 2.0 as a centrally sponsored scheme from the year 2013. Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to the higher educational institutions of the state in a phased manner.PM Usha Yojana has been focused on 4 components. These include multi-faculty education and research university, grant for strengthening the university, grant for strengthening colleges and gender inclusion and equity initiative.
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