Big relief to cancer prone Malwa region
as Sukhbir kick starts work on world class Cancer hospital in
Bathinda-Also lays foundation stone of 5 star hotel
Chandigarh, February 22, 2009
Deputy Chief Minister Punjab Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal today put
the whole region of Malwa on high trajectory of development by
initiating work on 6 major projects including a world class Cancer
and Cardiac hospital to provide quality treatment nearer home
in cancer prone area, a five star hotel and four hospitals under
Urban Slum Health Program with a combined capital outlay of Rs.
240 crores in Bathinda city.
The Deputy Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Rs. 100
Crore Multi-Super Specialty hospital being setup by Max group
under public private partnership (PPP) mode. The 200 hundred bedded
hospital with specialization in two disciplines – Cardiac
and Cancer care (Oncology), would be built over 4.80 acres of
land within the Civil District hospital complex. This fulfills
the promise made by S. Sukhbir Singh Badal in Vidhan Sabha elections
to tackle major health problems being faced by whole Malwa region.
The poor people of Bathinda got a major gift as Deputy Chief Minister
today laid the foundation stone of four hospitals at Lal Singh
Basti, Janta Nagar, Kamla Nehru Colony and Dhobiana Basti to be
constructed at the cost of Rs. 2.50 Crore each (Total 10 Crore).
Mr. Badal also laid the foundation stone of first five star
hotel in Malwa region to be setup by Vipul Hospitality Limited
at the cost of Rs. 100 crores in PPP mode on picturesque locales
falling between two lakes of Thermal plant.
Speaking on the occasion the Deputy Chief Minister said that
the result oriented SAD-BJP government was moving on fast track
to improve the total face of, once considered backward region
of Punjab, Malwa. He said that increasing cases of cancer in this
region, due to problem with underground water, was forcing the
people to go for treatment in Delhi. He said that his government
besides tackling the problem of underground water by installing
R.O. system in each village has now took a major step to setup
super specialty cancer hospital in Bathinda itself. He said that
his government was committed to upgrade the health infrastructure
in this region and for poor patients in slums and work on four
hospitals to be constructed in slums has begun today.
Emphasizing on the need of upgrading the infrastructure, Mr. Badal
said that with the initiation of work on Bathinda refinery (Rs.
4000 Crore), world class cricket stadium and thermal plant in
Talwandi Sabo there was increasing demand for world class five
star hotel in Bathinda. He said that with the completion of this
hotel in next two years industrial and economic scenario of this
region would take a big leap. He said that with the starting of
flights from Bathinda airport, air connectivity combined with
world class infrastructure would give a big impetus to economy
of this region.
Lashing out at arrogant Maharaja who unleashed a reign of terror
on thousands of innocent Akali workers during his five year tenure,
Mr. Badal said that he was trying to divert the attention away
from his failures by accusing SAD-BJP government of vendetta.
He said that all the criminal cases against the Congress leaders
were initiated by Captain himself during his tenure to fix his
rivals and now those cases are reaching their logical conclusion.
He said that Maharaja elected by the people to work for their
welfare forgot them and spent five years in the company of Aroosa
Alam. He laughed that with the advent of summers Aroosa is back
in Punjab.
Expressing concern over increasing drug trafficking Mr. Badal
said that besides punitive measures launched by newly constituted
task force, SAD-BJP government would launch a major drive to rehabilitate
drug addicts and make them positive assets of the state.
Earlier speaking on the occasion Health and Family Welfare Minister
Prof. Lakshmi Kant Chawla said that proud Punjabis should hang
their heads in shame as Punjab was fast emerging as a killer field
of unborn daughters. She said that her department besides enforcing
PNDT act was seeking the help of NGO's and religious leaders to
bring an attitudinal change in our male oriented mind set. She
also expressed concern over increasing cases of synthetic milk
and adultration of edibles and announced a prize of Rs. 31 thousand
beside state honor to any person giving a clue leading to seizure
of large quantity of synthetic milk.
Speaking on the Dr. Pervez Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer &
Managing Director, Max Healthcare said that this state of art
200 hundred bedded hospital would be operational by aprill 2011.
He said that Max heath care would invest Rs. 100 Crore and potential
income of Punjab government as 5% share in gross revenue would
be about Rs. 1225 Crore during concession period.
Mr. Punit Beriwala, managing director of Vipul Hospitality promised
to construct world class five star hotel with 75 rooms convention
hall and other facilities within two years. He said that from
the project gross revenue to be earned by PSEB would be around
1000 Crores.
Mr. Badal also distributed cheques of Rs. 50, 000 each to 32
panchayats of Bathinda, Sangat, Bhagta, Maur, Nathana, Phul, Rampura
and Talwandi Sabo for construction of sport stadium. Prominent
among those who spoke on the occasion included Mr. Sikander Singh
Maluka, Mr. Baldev Singh Bhunder and host of prominent Akali leaders.
Punjab Government signs MoU with METRO
Cash & Carry India
Rs. 900 crores to be invested for setting up of 6 wholesale centres
in the State
Chandigarh, February 22-
The Punjab Government has signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with METRO Cash & Carry India, the international leader
in self-service business-to-business wholesale company, under
the mega project policy of the state here today.
Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce Mr.
S.S. Channy and Member of the Executive Board of Directors, Mr.
Frits van Peski signed on behalf of Punjab Government and METRO
Cash & Carry India in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister
Mr. Parkash Singh Badal and Local Government and Industries &
Commerce Minister Mr. Manoranjan Kalia.
Appreciating the commitment of the company to supplement
the income of the farmers, Mr. Badal said that the plan of METRO
Cash & Carry a German retail enterprise, to open 6 wholesale
centers with an investment of Rs. 900 crores within next two to
three years would certainly boost the agriculture-economy in the
state thereby improving the lot of the beleaguered Punjabi farmer
who was at cross roads due to the diminishing returns on the agriculture
today. These ventures would result in creation of 27000 jobs for
local youth and impart training in modern management practices,
besides sourcing vegetables, fruits and other fresh items directly
from local farmers thereby eliminating the middle men said Mr.
Badal.
Mr. Badal also appreciated the company's initiative
for setting up these distribution centers that would provide about
25000 items-both food and non food to the Kirana Stores, Hotels,
Restaurants and businesses in Punjab and hope that there would
be a quantum jump in the revenue.
The Chief Minister further suggested the company
to expand their unique business concept at block levels in the
state. He assured them to extend full support and corporation
on behalf of the State Government.
While thanking Mr. Badal for the supportive attitude Mr. Frits
van Peski said, " Punjab is a progressive state with a large
number of entrepreneurs including small Kirana stores, hotels,
restaurants and other traders and offers a big potential for our
self-service wholesale. I am confident that our unique model will
catalyze the progressive attitude of Punjab by providing a one
stop solution for wholesale purchase, improvements in assortments
and high quality products to our professional customers."
He further added that presently METRO Cash & Carry was represented
in 29 countries with more than 615 self-service wholesale centres
with more than 100,000 employees worldwide.
It may be recalled here that METRO Cash & Carry
caters exclusively to professional business customers like small
retailers including kirana stores, hotels, restaurants and caterers.
The assortment and services are tailored to the special needs
of these target groups. METRO Cash & Carry offers members
of this target group a greater efficiency: by offering them a
one-stop solution for their purchases, by helping them to improve
their assortment, by offering them high quality products at reasonable
and transparent prices and by offering them a reliable supply
source thus helping them to improve their business.
METRO Cash & Carry also strengthens local suppliers
by building their capabilities and providing them with marketing
opportunities - up to 90 percent of the products offered will
be supplied locally. As done in other states, METRO Cash &
Carry also plans to run a farmer training programme intended to
build the capacity of farmers by improvements in marketing and
supply chain. This will help farmers produce export quality fruits
and vegetables that will be able to compete in the international
market.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the
occasion included Principal Secretary to Chief Minister D.S.Guru,
Addl. Principal Secretary to Chief Minister & Director Information
and Public Relations Mr. Gaggandeep Singh Brar, Director Industries
Mr. V.K. Janjua, besides the representatives of METRO Cash &
Carry, Head of Legal Mr. Mukesh Dugar, Head of Development &
Expansion Mr. Petr Nemec and Head of Corporate Relations Mr. Vishal
Sehgal.
PB GOVT. COMMITTED TO UPGRADE ITS MEDICAL &
HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE TO INTERNATIONAL LEVEL – BADAL
AMRITSAR FEBRUARY 21, 2009
Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today declared that
the Health and Medical care infrastructure would soon be upgraded
at par with international standards as concerted efforts had already
been initiated in this regard with the revamping of the Government
Medical College Amritsar with a massive investment of Rs.182 crore.
Addressing a galaxy of medical and nursing fraternity here at
Government Medical College after laying the foundation stone of
Bebe Nanki Mother & Child Care Centre (Rs.40 crore) and Guru
Teg Bahadur Block for Imaging and Diagnostic Services with Super
Speciality wards (Rs.57 crore) under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha
Yojna along with Union Health & family Welfare Minister Dr.Anbumani
Ramadoss, the Chief Minister said that the State government was
committed to provide state-of-the-art medical and health care
facilities to the people especially the economically poor at affordable
rates. He said that similar steps had already been taken by the
Punjab government for the rejuvenation of existing infrastructure
at Govt. Medical College Patiala at a cost of Rs.30 crore and
Guru Gobind Singh Medical College & Hospital at Faridkot in
the campus of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at a cost
of Rs.80 crore. He said that the paucity of staff had also been
addressed with the appointment of 90 super specialists and approximately
100 medical specialists would be recruited soon in the government
hospitals through Punjab Public Service Commission, as the process
was on.
Mr. Badal also announced that the state government had recently
awarded the project of setting up of 2 prestigious super speciality
Cancer hospitals one each at Bathinda and Mohali to the internationally
acclaimed Max Health Care Limited. Mr. Badal appreciated the special
efforts rendered by deputy Chairman Punjab State Planning Board
Dr.JS Bajaj for getting the entire upgradation plan of government
medical college and its associated hospitals at Amritsar through
the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation India Ltd. –
a GoI enterprise. He also said that a modern Nursing College in
the vicinity of Govt. Medical College would soon be constructed
which would cater to the specialized M.Sc courses in Nursing.
Apart from this Swami Vivekanand Drug Dependence Treatment Centre
would also soon come up in Govt.. Medical College to extend the
facility for counseling and care of drug addicted youth to treat
and rehabilitate them.
The Chief Minister assured the Dr.Ramadoss that state government
would make all out efforts to lead Punjab in the field of medical
and health care services. He appreciated the medical faculty of
the government medical colleges in the state especially the Amritsar
Medical College whose doctors had earned worldwide reputation
through their ability and professional skills. He also pointed
out that he would soon send these doctors to undertake latest
research and higher studies in the field of medicine in consultation
with Dr.JS Bajaj.
The Chief Minister also lauded the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh for taking special initiative for the upgradation of govt.
medical college Amritsar and assured that the state government
would also strive hard to establish this one of the oldest medical
institutions in the country at the level of AIMS New Delhi and
PGIMER Chandigarh.
Earlier, in his address Union Health & Family Welfare Minister
Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss after inaugurating the Health Awareness Campaign
organized by Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare GoI
in collaboration with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
(SGPC) at Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical & Research
at village Vallah said that Punjab was a dynamic state and people
of the country look upon it as a most progressive state but he
was distressed to observe the declining female sex ratio as compared
to other states. He said: "It was a black mark on the fair
name of development and prosperity of Punjab which must be wiped
out at all costs to regain its lost glory in this behalf".
He appealed all the political personalities cutting across their
party affiliations to wage a war against this menace to save our
unborn daughters who were the destiny of our nation. He assured
all possible financial and moral support to carry out this mission
to erase this blot from Punjab . He also strongly pleaded with
the Chief Minister, the Governor of Punjab and President of SGPC
to make this mission a complete success so that the development
and prosperity of Punjab could not be undermined due to the social
stigma of female foeticide and the growing tendency of drug addiction,
Tobacco and alcoholism amongst the youth. He especially asked
the SGPC – a premier Sikh Organization to disseminate the
message down the line because Sikh religion had already forbidden
the vices of female foeticide, consumption of Tobacco and alcohol
and it could play a meaningful and constructive role in building
a public opinion against these social evils in a larger perspective.
He also dwelled upon the lesser evil of junk food and change of
life style especially amongst the children and asked the doctors
to bring awareness amongst them about its ill effects on their
health. He said that today's health awareness campaign launched
by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in collaboration
with SGPC was merely a beginning to bring awareness amongst the
people at the grass roots level because all the four issues related
to Tobacco control, alcohol prevention, drug de-addiction, save
the girl child and promotion of health diet and live style should
not be misconstrued as health issues rather they should be seriously
taken as social issues and a societal approach should be adopted
to tackle them.
Praising the nursing community for their dedicated services and
commitment towards their profession, Dr.Ramadoss said that the
GoI had recently announced a 'Florence Nightingale Award' in recognition
with their outstanding contribution and to boost their morale.
He remarked "It is the nursing community which worked zealously
but the unfortunate part was the doctors take away the credit".
He said that this award was instituted to infuse a spirit of commitment
towards their profession.
In his address Governor of Punjab Gen. (Retd.) SF Rodrigues
, PVSM, VSM said that the survey conducted by the Guru Nanak Dev
University on his behest has revealed that more than 70% the youth
in the age group of 16 to 30 years were affected by the menace
of drug addiction in one way or other. He asked the NGOs, social
voluntary and religious organizations like SGPC to come forward
and play a pro-active role to curb this menace for once and all.
He said that it could only be feasible if there was a strong will
power and he hoped the people of Punjab and its leadership was
brave enough to accept this challenge.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Badal asked the people to conscientiously
to launch a crusade against the menace of female foeticide because
the government alone could not fight against it and it was the
strong will and power of the people which could gradually eradicate
this problem from the state of Punjab which leads the nation in
bringing prosperity in many ways. "It is a matter of sheer
shame and dejection for all of us because we the inhabitants of
one of the most advanced state were responsible perhaps for the
lowest adverse sex ratio in the Punjab . He appealed the people
to curb this unhealthy practice thereby motivating the youth to
change their mind sets towards this dogmatic approach. He also
urged the judiciary to recommend severest of the severe punishment
for the culprits who abet or perpetrate this gruesome crime against
the society. He said that the persons guilty of female foeticide
should be prosecuted for murder because more or less killing or
destroying the foeticide was nothing less than a murder and such
criminals should not be shown any sort of leniency or mercy.
In his address the President of SGPC Jathedar Avtar Singh said
that the SGPC had already initiated a special progamme 'Nani Chhan'
launched by Smt.Harsimrat Kaur wife of Deputy Chief Minister Mr.Sukhbir
Singh Badal to bring awareness amongst the women especially in
the rural areas to build them up physically and socially strong
to fight against the evil as there was no different between the
daughter and a son in the eyes of God. He also urged the other
religious institutions and bodies to come forward to bring social
awakening against the menace of female foeticide and he also lauded
the contribution of Sri Akal Takhat Sahib in this direction.
Prominent amongst others who addressed on both these occasions
included Health & Family Minister Punjab Smt.Laxmi Kanta Chawla,
Medical Education & Research Minister Mr.Tikshan Sood, Chief
Parliamentary Secretary Mr.Sital Singh, Member Parliament from
Amritsar, Mr.Navjot Singh Sidhu and the leader of Opposition in
Vidhan Sabha and former Chief Minister Smt.Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
Besides MP from Tarn Taran Dr.Rattan Singh Ajnala, MP from Rajya
Sabha Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, Mr.Bikram Singh Majithia, Mr.Amarpal
Singh, Mr.Anil Joshi, Mr.Inderbir Singh Bularia, Mr.Virsa Singh
Valtoha, Dr.Dalbir Singh Verka (all MLAs) and senior leaders and
party workers of SAD-BJP and members of SGPC also attended these
function.
PUNJAB NOMINATES DR. MAAN AS MEMBER DENTAL COUNCIL OF INDIA
CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 21-
The Punjab Government has nominated Dr. Randeep Singh Mann BDS,
FICOI (USA), as the member of the Dental Council of India from
the state of Punjab.
Disclosing this here today a spokesman of the Punjab Government
said that this nomination had been made under the section 3 (e)
of the Dental Act 1948 for the term of 5 years in place of Dr.
Vikas Jindal of Ludhiana.
SUKHBIR SINGH BADAL GREETS PEOPLE ON EVE OF MAHA SHIVRATRI.
CHANDIGARH, February 22, 2009
Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab today extended
greetings to the people of Punjab on the auspicious occasion of
Maha Shivratri.
In a message the Deputy Chief Minister said that Lord Shiva
is a symbol of the balance which exists among the diverse forces
of nature and creation. Maha Shivratri, he said, inspires us in
our pursuit of truth and understanding of the universe and the
cycle of dissipation of the old, and emergence of the new
Praying for peace and prosperity to the state, he said that
we must celebrate this festival in a befitting spirit and with
the usual fervour.
