Would not allow militancy to raise its ugly head again-Sukhbir

Amritsar, August 11, 2013: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today assured the people of Punjab that Punjab Government would not allow militancy to raise its ugly head again in the state.

Badal, who was here along with his wife and Bathinda Member Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal to pay obeisance at Golden Temple, was responding to a media query regarding letters purportedly written by militants being received by certain section of people and said that Punjab Government was keeping an eye on all such elements and during last five years the Punjab Police had busted three major militant modules and prevented major militant strikes. He said that it was unfortunate that Union Government was not performing its duty in raising the modernisation grant of Punjab Police, with Punjab being a border state. He said that it was our fundamental duty to protect the lives of the citizens and would not allow anyone to fiddle with hard earned peace of the state.

On a question regarding development projects of the Amritsar district, Badal said that he has already approved a comprehensive plan for this Holy City and on completion of this plan, you would not be able to recognise Amritsar city. He said that his aim was to put Holy City Amritsar on International Tourist Circuit as it was emerging as a hub of Development of South-East Asia. He said that he has already reviewed the execution of projects and set aside requisite funds for each project.

Reviewing the progress of Golden Temple Plaza, he said that he has conducted the review of this project to ensure that it could be dedicated to the world community on schedule. He said that Golden Temple would witness the completion of its prestigious project of Underground Plaza by the end of this year as the work was on full swing and it would be on the advanced stage of completion within few months.  He said that this unique project would prove a boon for thousands of daily tourists from across the world as there would be audio-video information system to know the history and rich Sikh heritage besides a world class auditorium.

Answering a query regarding proposed welfare schemes of state government, Badal said that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has finalised various schemes for the welfare and betterment of poverty stricken families of Punjab. He said that in few days the CM would unveil the Cashless Insurance Scheme for Atta Daal beneficiaries, under which these families would get cashless treatment up to Rs. 30,000 in various top private hospital earmarked by government. He said that for this process was in full swing soon the beneficiaries would get the unique card to avail the scheme. He said that state government has also decided to bring more needy families under the ambit of Atta Daal Scheme and the number of beneficiaries families would be doubled from 15 lakh to 30 lakh in coming days.

The Deputy Chief Minister also said that Punjab is going to start Rs. 30,000 scholarship for the meritorious students of poor families with a view to get their studies continued. He said that after passing their matriculation exams the students scoring above 80 percent marks would get the scholarship for two years. He also said that Punjab would also provide an insurance cover to all natives of Punjab worth Rs. 1 lakh each.

When asked about mechanism to check and monitor of development in villages, Badal said that Punjab is the first state, which is going to computerise its all more than 13000 Panchayats under E-Panchayat project. He said that under this more than 80% works have been completed and now the state government has decided to conduct six monthly external audits by engaging top private audit companies.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Rajat Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner and Ram Singh, Police Commissioner were also present.