DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said the state was staring at a power crisis resulting from farmers' agitation due to the Centre's "arrogant and callous" attitude. The CM's statement has come hours after representatives of several farmers' bodies had walked out of a meeting in Delhi after not finding any Union minister present there for holding talks with them over farm laws.According to a government statement, the chief minister blamed the Union government for "failing" to resolve the power crisis resulting from the stir due to its "arrogant and callous" attitude towards farmer bodies. The CM, however, urged farmers to ease their "rail roko" agitation to allow the transportation of essential items. The CM said while three of his cabinet colleagues were in discussion with farmer unions to persuade them to lift the rail blockade, it was the duty of the Union government to engage with them. He said two power units at Lehra Mohabat and a unit of GVK in Tarn Taran have already shut down and the state is staring at a massive power shortage. In his #AskCaptain Facebook Live session, Amarinder Singh in response to a question from a Bathinda resident said the state is facing critical shortage of urea and coal and also needed to urgently move foodgrain from godowns. The chief minister said there is a suggestion that the state should purchase power from the central grid. "But where is the money," he asked. He said the state government is providing free power to farmers and facing a serious shortage of diesel. "We need to seriously think about these problems," he said. Asserting that his government is committed to protect rights of farmers, who according to him have been hit hard by the Centre's "malicious" farm laws, the CM said his government has decided to convene a special assembly session on October 19 to find a way forward. "I will do everything in my power to save the farmers and their future," he said responding to a Ferozepur resident. Besides calling the assembly session, his government is consulting topmost lawyers to find a way to fight the black farm laws, he said. However, the CM said he cannot comment on the contours of the Bill proposed to be presented in the special assembly session as the process of consultation was still on. He also termed the Centre's decision to withdraw from the SC Post-Matric Scholarship scheme as a "totally retrograde" step. He said the new scholarship scheme approved by the cabinet on Wednesday will secure the future of the Scheduled Castes children by enabling them to pursue higher studies. The Punjab CM said his government has also decided to raise the income criteria to bring more Scheduled Castes students into the ambit of the scheme which will be implemented once the Bill is passed in the assembly. Amarinder also termed the cabinet decision of providing 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs at the direct recruitment stage in PCS (Punjab Civil Services) as fulfilment of an election promise and a measure to ensure that they get what they deserve. "We even have a woman Rafale fighter pilot now?so they deserve it all," he said. Data on pollution vindicates Punjab govt's stance: CM Chandigarh With the Centre saying stubble burning contributed only four per cent to pollution in Delhi, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday stressed the latest data has vindicated his government's stance. Flaying his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, the Punjab chief minister asked him to "stop lying" to divert attention from his "failure" to protect the national capital's environment. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in Delhi said stubble burning contributed only four per cent to the Delhi-NCR pollution with the rest caused by local factors. The Punjab CM slammed Kejriwal for refusing to accept results of comprehensive studies on the issue. In fact, it is Kejriwal who was in denial, said Amarinder Singh in a statement. If Kejriwal is serious about addressing Delhi's crisis, he should stop being in denial immediately and get down to the task of finding solutions, the chief minister said. Kejriwal, said the CM, had been spreading "misinformation" on the issue with the sole agenda of keeping people of Delhi in the dark about the actual situation, which his government had "failed miserably" to handle over the years. The fact is that there is absolutely no data to support the claims of the Delhi chief minister, he said, adding that in contrast, studies showed that stubble burning was only a miniscule part of the national capital's problem. / DW / (editor@dailyworld.in)