Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann: Will pay Rs 1,100 to women instead of Rs 1,000

PATIALA: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced that soon all the women in Punjab would get Rs 1,100 per month instead of the pre-poll promise of Rs 1, 000 per month, by funding the scheme with savings from agricultural power subsidy. The CM said the scheme would be implemented soon after the Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a public meeting in Dhuri to campaign for AAP's Sangrur candidate Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Mann said: "I have already made calculations for the implementation of the scheme." Giving Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age is one of the unfulfilled promises for the AAP govt.Since no allocation was made in the budget for 2024-25, the opposition parties had questioned the ruling AAP when it planned to roll out the scheme.
"There are 14.5 lakh tube-wells in the state of which 5 lakh will be shut after canal water is supplied for irrigation; Rs 18,000-crore subsidy is being given for free power to run agriculture pump sets. Around Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 crore of this subsidy will be saved if 5 lakh tube-wells are closed. We only need Rs 5,500 crore annually to run the monthly scheme under which Rs 1,000 per month is to be given to the women in Punjab. I have now decided to give Rs 1,100 instead of Rs 1,000 under the scheme, which once started, will not stop," said the CM.
Last month, Mann had said his party's promise before the Assembly polls to give Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age would be fulfilled by funding it with savings from power subsidy to the agriculture sector. The state has around 14.5 lakh tubewells. Mann had said that the use of canal water for irrigation was likely to go up to 70% by October this year.
Recounting the achievements of his govt, especially in the Dhuri assembly segment, Mann said: " I always loved Sangrur but now Dhuri has become my parental home."