The North News
Chandigarh, March 6
Gulab Chand Kataria, the Governor of Punjab, has highlighted the state government’s plans for healthcare, education, agriculture and infrastructure while addressing the 12th Budget Session of the 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
In his address, Kataria said the government was committed to building a “vibrant and progressive Rangla Punjab” and outlined several initiatives across public services and welfare.
The governor said the state was expanding its public healthcare network, which currently includes 23 district hospitals, 42 sub-divisional hospitals, 162 community health centres and more than 500 primary health centres.
He also pointed to the growing network of Aam Aadmi Clinics, saying 881 clinics are now operating across the state. These clinics provide 107 medicines and 47 diagnostic tests free of cost, and have recorded more than 4.7 crore outpatient visits, including 1.55 crore unique patients, he said.
Kataria said pregnancy care services introduced at these clinics had helped reduce the maternal mortality ratio from 105 to 90.
The governor added that the government had carried out what he described as the largest recruitment of doctors in the state’s history, with 934 doctors hired since 2022 and hundreds more specialists and nursing staff in the recruitment pipeline.
On health coverage, he said the government had introduced the Mukhya Mantri Sehat Yojana, which provides cashless health cover of up to ₹10 lakh per family per year for more than 2,300 medical procedures across around 900 government and private hospitals in Punjab and Chandigarh.
The address also highlighted measures aimed at improving road safety, including the Farishtey Scheme and the Sadak Surakhya Force, which provide immediate medical assistance and incentives for people who help accident victims.
In education, Kataria said the government had recruited 13,765 teachers since April 2022 under the Punjab Sikhya Kranti initiative. Some school leaders and teachers have also been sent for training programmes in countries such as Singapore and Finland and at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
The governor also outlined steps to improve irrigation and support farmers. According to the address, the government plans to build 3,443km of new watercourses and pipelines, with 2,650km already completed. Canal lining projects have also expanded irrigation to hundreds of new locations.
Farmers have been given subsidies on cotton seeds recommended by Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, and the state has raised the price paid for sugarcane to ₹416 per quintal, which the government says is the highest in the country.
In infrastructure, the Punjab Mandi Board is working on upgrading more than 40,000km of link roads at a cost of about ₹12,597 crore, while employment programmes have helped facilitate jobs for nearly 49,000 candidates through placement camps and job fairs, the governor said.
Kataria also highlighted spending on sports development, with ₹362 crore allocated in the 2025–26 financial year, including funds for athlete support, sports infrastructure and the development of 3,100 playgrounds across the state.
He said these measures reflected the government’s broader goal of strengthening public services while promoting economic development and social welfare across Punjab.
