Punjab polls: BJP and allies release sankalp document

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its allies the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), on Tuesday released a ‘sankalp’ (commitments) document days ahead of the upcoming Assembly election.  The document lists down 11 commitments, including a budget of Rs 5,000 crore for sustainable agriculture and organic farming, free rainwater harvesting units to check depleting water table and promotion of allied agriculture sectors are some of the promises.They  also promised cash rewards for medal winners in international and national games on the lines of those given out in Haryana. The document was released by the BJP's Punjab election in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, party leaders – Harjit Singh Grewal and Subhash Sharma – and SAD (Sanyukt) chief Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

The document further promised to promote allied agriculture sectors, including dairy farming, poultry farming, apiculture, setting up of new cold storages and subsidy and loans to women belonging to backward classes, scheduled castes and economically weaker sections for venturing into dairy, poultry and beekeeping sectors.The BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance also said playgrounds will be built at the village level along with world-class facilities for grooming international-level hockey players and Kabaddi tournaments in rural areas.