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LUDHIANA AIR CONNECTIVITY TO GIVE A BIG BOOST TO TRADE AND INDUSTRY – SUKHBIR

• Three years efforts bore fruit today
• Appeals Ludhianvis to make this flight a mega success

Chandigarh, May 13:

The landing of  first resumed Delhi-Ludhiana flight of Air India at Sahnewal with Deputy chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal  on board today marked the  culmination of three year long sustained efforts of  SAD-BJP Government. As he alighted from the plane at 12.36 PM, he had a expression of great satisfaction of fulfilling promise made to the residents of Ludhiana.

Accompanied by Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Mr. Avinash Rai Khanna, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, Mrs. Paramjit Kaur Gulshan and Mr. Sher Singh Ghubaya  (all MPs) and former Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia,  the Deputy Chief Minister thanked the god for giving him strength to fulfill his promise made to the people of Ludhiana.

Waving to the thousands of eager and excited Ludhiana residents who had come to witness history being created, the Deputy Chief Minister said that he was not here to enter into any credit war as people themselves were wise enough to judge that who was behind this success story.

Later addressing the media Mr. Badal said that SAD had promised in the manifesto to put Ludhiana and Bathinda on air map and he was satisfied that he has redeemed his promise. He said that shortly domestic flights would start operating from Bathinda also. The Deputy Chief Minister said that his vision was to put Punjab on higher orbit of air connectivity to give a fillip to economic development of this land locked state. He said that out of 13 International air ports in the country Punjab with 1.3% geographical area of the country would have unique distinction of having three International Airports at Amrtisar, Mohali and upcoming Greenfield Machhiwara.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that during its previous tenure congress was having Governments both at State as well as in centre but failed to get a single additional flight for the State, what to call of airports. He said that congress believes more in dramatics and road shows and less in work and our work reflects our sustained efforts, sincerity and commitment.  

Congratulating the people of Ludhiana, Mr. Badal said that Manchester of India, Ludhiana is all set to witness a big boost to tourism, Industry and Trade with the city being connected to Delhi and rest of the world by air.

Listing out the efforts of the State Government Mr. Badal said that the idea that was conceived in May 2007 fructified on 13 March, 2008 when Alliance Air decided in principal to operate flights from Ludhiana. It may be added that General Elections for the present Lok Sabha were held on 13th May 2009.

Mr. Badal said that this was the result of sustained efforts of SAD BJP Government for last three years ,when our Chief Minister S. Parkash Singh Badal,  myself,  Chief Secretary, State Secretary of Civil Aviation Mr. Visvajeet Khanna and Principal Resident Commissioner Punjab had series of meetings with Union Civil Aviation Department, Defence Ministry, Airport Authority of India and other concerned authorities in Union Government  to expedite the clearance of this proposal at various levels.            

Mr. Badal said that immediately after mooting the proposal in May, 2007, the Chief Minister wrote to Union Defence Minister on 20th September, 2007, seeking clearance of Defence Ministry for this proposal. Subsequently, Mr. T.K.A. Nair, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister held a meeting on September 5, 2007 with Union Defence Secretary, Union Civil Aviation Secretary, Chairman Airport Authority of India, Chief Secretary of Punjab, Secretary Civil Aviation Punjab to discuss the proposal of Punjab Chief Minister for upgradation of Sahnewal Airport for starting commercial flights. Later, Chief Secretary Punjab and Civil Aviation Secretary Punjab held a meeting with Union Defence Secretary on September 23, 2007 where in Union Defence Secretary desired that Punjab Government should immediately initiate the proposal  for ATR type aircrafts from Ludhiana and submitted his clearance to Air Headquarter.

 Mr. Badal said that this meeting was followed up by meeting held by Punjab Civil Aviation Department with the Managing Director of Air India.  He said that after getting a nod for flight, Punjab Civil Aviation Secretary wrote a letter to Chairman, Airport Authority of India apprising him urgent need to repair, strengthen and re-carpeting the Sahnewal Airport.

Later Principal Resident Commissioner of Punjab had a meeting with Executive Director (commercial) Alliance Air on 13 March, 2008 regarding schedule of flights from Ludhiana. This all happened much before Lok Sabha Elections .

Mr. Badal said that Punjab Civil Aviation Department held a meeting on 7th April, 2008 with the representatives of Airport Authority of India and Ministry of Defence at Sahnewal Airport for installing the navigational facilities at Airport for the flight for ensuring night landing facilities and all weather landing facilities at the Sahnewal airport.  

The Deputy Chief Minister said that all navigational equipments have arrived at Sahnewal Airport, lights and other night landing and all weather landing instrumentation facilities have been provided at Sahnewal Airport. Total Rs. 20 crore has been spent in upgrading the Sahnewal Airport and for provision of navigational facilities at the Airport. The Punjab government has already acquired a piece of 7 acre land for expansion of this airport and airport authority of India has been today formally handover possession of the land.

Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Mr. Hira Singh Gabria Cabinet Minister,Mr Harcharn Bains, Media Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Darshan Singh Shivalik, Mr. Harish Bedi, Mr. Jagjivan Singh Khirnia all MLAs, Mr. Sharanjit Singh Dhillon Chairman Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and Mr. Santa Singh Umaidpuri Chairman, SSS Board.

ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY SANCTIONS RS.465 CRORE FOR SEWERAGE AND STP IN 8 TOWNS

CHANDIGARH MAY 13:

As a part of river conservation project, the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests today cleared 8 more towns namely Hoshiarpur, Phagwara South, Rajpura, Patran, Lehraghaga, Derabassi, Khanuri and Jalandhar for lying of sewerage and provision of sewerage treatment plants at a cost of Rs.465.07 crore.   Out of this Rs.237.16 crore would be spent in Jalandhar while Rs.227.91 crore in other seven towns.  

A decision to this effect was conveyed by Special Secretary Ministry of Environment Mr. RH Khwaja to the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, who called on him here at his residence this afternoon.   

Mr. Khwaja was deputed by Union Minister of state for Environment & Forests Mr. Jairam Ramesh to visit Punjab to monitor the progress of ongoing projects in the state.  Mr. Khwaja apprised the Chief Minister that the Ministry had several schemes under industrial infrastructure sector for which the state could avail maximum benefits by posing such projects to the Ministry. 

He also urged the Chief Minister to direct the Punjab Pollution Control Board and Punjab Water Supply & Sewerage Board to prioritize the towns with high intensity of pollution.  He mentioned that the Ministry had already given in principle approval to the State Government for execution of sewerage and STP projects in four towns of Phillaur, Banga, Phagwara and Nawanshahr at a cost of Rs.56.40 crore. 

The Chief Minister also asked Mr. Khwaja to expeditiously clear the projects pending with the Ministry for which the detailed project reports had already been submitted by the state government to the Ministry.  The Chief Minister thanked Mr. Khwaja for fulsome support and cooperation for the implementation of River Conservation Projects on rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar and informed him that the state was planning to use the treated waste water from these towns for irrigation purpose through a dedicated network.   

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Chief Secretary Mr. SC Agrawal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. DS Guru, Principal Secretary Local Government Mr. C Roul, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board Mr. Rajat Aggarwal, Chairman Punjab Water Supply & Sewerage board Mr. Satpal Angrula, Member Secretary Punjab Pollution Control Board Mr. Babu Ram.

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PUNJAB SEEKS SPECIAL POLICE MODERNIZATION GRANT TO MEET THE CHALLENGE OF NAXALISM AND TERRORISM

Chandigarh, May 13:

Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister today said that Punjab Government has sought enhancement of police modernization grant to Rs. 200 crore per annum, to equip the Punjab police, to meet the emerging challenges on security front.

Talking to the media after alighting from inaugural Delhi – Sahnewal Alliance Air Flight Mr. Badal said that recently in meeting of state Home Ministers with Union Home Minister, the Punjab Government had impressed upon the Union Government that besides equipping the police of Naxal affected states, the Union Government should also equip the police force of potential target states of nefarious expansionist designs of naxal elements.

He said that Punjab Government was keeping a strict vigil on the situation and would not allow terrorism as well as naxalism to raise its ugly head in Punjab. He said that there was no chance of  naxal elements to gain grounds in Punjab as naxalism was borne out of economic deprivation and Punjab has no such situation.

Mr. Badal said that SAD BJP Government was moving ahead with development agenda. Recently we have inaugurated four ROBs and 17 more would be inaugurated with six months. Mr. Badal said that he recently met surface transport Minister Mr. Kamal Nath and got a nod for four laning / six laning of roads with a capital cost of Rs.1497 crores.

The Deputy Chief Minister refused to answer a query regarding a challenge posed to him by a congress worker  to contest election, and quipped that  “My circle Jathedar would give him a befitting answer”.  

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SHIROMANI SAHIT AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED ON 20th May

Chandigarh May 13:

Annual Shiromani Sahit Awards would be presented to the selected personalities by the chief guest Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal Deputy Chief Minister Punjab in a function to be held at Law Auditorium Chandigarh at 10:00 AM on May 20, 2010. The Education and Languages Minister Punjab Dr. Upinderjit Kaur would preside over the function and Bibi Mohinder Kaur Josh Chief Parliamentary Secretary Education would attend the award ceremony as a special guest.

Disclosing this here today Mrs. Balbir Kaur, Director Languages Department Punjab said that 17 literary personalities from different fields would be honoured for various 15 Shiromani Awards for the year 2009. The most prestigious ‘Punjabi Sahit Ratan’ award worth Rs 5 lac would be presented to noted writer Sh. Kartar Singh Duggal.

Similarly ‘Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar’ award to be conferred to Sh. Piara Singh Bhogal, ‘Shiromani Hindi Sahitkar’ award to Sh. Ravinder Kalia while ‘Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar’ would be presented to Sh. Rajinder Nath Rehbar.

She further added that ‘Shiromani Sanskrit Sahitkar’ award would be given to Prof. Jagdish Prasad Semwal and ‘Shiromani Punjabi Kavi’ award to Sh. Jaswant Deed. Besides this, Sh. Rajinder Singh Bhaseen to be conferred ‘Shiromani Punjabi Gyan Sahitkar/Alochik’ award, Darshan Gill ‘Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar (overseas)’ award, Sh. Mohan Kahlon would be conferred with for ‘Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar’ award (outside Punjab) and Sh. Mahinder Singh Manupuri for ‘Shiromani Punjabi Bal Sahitkar Lekhak’ award.

Adding further she said that Sh. H.S Bawa would be awarded ‘Shiromani Punjabi Patarkar’ award, Sh. Eedu Shariff for ‘Shiromani Ragi/Dhadi/Kavishar’ award and Sh. Om Puri for ‘Shiromani Punjabi Television/ Radio/ Theater/ Play/ Producer/Writer’ award and ‘Shiromani Punjabi Singer/Musician’ award would be awarded to Sh Paramjeet Singh Sidhu (Pammi Bai) whereas the newly instituted ‘Shiromani Punjabi Sahit Patarkarita Puraskar’ would be conferred to Sh Raghubeer Singh Sirjina.

Mrs balbir Kaur further said that the Punjab State Language Advisory Board has also decided to honour Sh. Roop Singh (SGPC) and renowned photo artist Sh. Tej Partap Singh Sandhu with special awards along with cash prize of Rs. two lac each for their valuable contributions. It has also been agreed upon in the board meeting to institute a new award for the next year to honour the active Punjabi journalists working overseas with Shiromani Punjabi Parvasi Patarkar Purskar.

She added that the prize money for the Punjabi Sahit Rattan Award had already been doubled from Rs. 2.5 lac to Rs. 5 lac and for other Shiromani awards, it has been increased from Rs. 1.00 lac to 2.5 lac. The awardees would be honoured with a shawl, medal, plaque and cash prize on the occasion.

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163 COMPUTER THEFT CASES IN GOVT SCHOOLS
DGP ASKED TO INTERVENE IN INVESTGATIONS

Chandigarh May 13:

With a view to check the ever increasing thefts in the schools, the Punjab Education Department has requested the Director General of Police, Punjab to take appropriate action expeditiously in all 163 theft cases regarding the stolen computers registered at various police stations.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the School Education Department, Punjab said that State Government has been implementing the ambitious ICT Project under an agreement with two companies namely M/s HCL and M/s GCL, providing hardware and computer peripherals in all the Government schools but despite the various safeguard measures, intruders have stolen computer hardware. The Department of School Education had already lodged 163 FIRs to be followed by the necessary action by the police as per the law of the land but no investigation report has been received by the Education Officers, he regretted.

He explained that once a non traceable report (NTR) was received from the police station, then the equipment has to be replaced within a period of one month by the respective vendors.  “However, over a period of time, 163 theft cases submitted by M/s HCL, have already been lodged in various police stations across the State. The District Education Officers (DEOs) have also been pursuing the matter with the district police but the NTRs were not being received. As a result it was difficult for the vendor to get the compensations from the insurance companies”, he said.

Adding further he said that to issue no traceable reports, the DGP has been requested to personally intervene into the matter and issue appropriate directions to the Senior Superintendents of Police and Police Commissioners to take appropriate action expeditiously in all cases and arrange to provide the appropriate reports to the DEOs who have been directed to get in touch with the respective authorities.

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INFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT  PUNJAB
101.91 LAKH TONNES WHEAT PROCURED IN PUNJAB

Chandigarh, May 13:

Government agencies and private millers procured more than 101.91 lakh tonnes of wheat till last evening as compared to  105.79 lakh tones in previous year on the day.

Out of total procurement of 101.91 lakh tonnes of wheat in all the procurement centers of Punjab, Government agencies procured 101.41 lakh tonnes of wheat (99.5%) till date whereas private traders procured 50324 tonnes (0.5%) of wheat. Till May 12, PUNGRAIN had procured 16.92 lakh tonnes (16.6%) whereas MARKFED procured 23.65 lakh tonnes (23.2%). PUNSUP procured 22.85 lakh tonnes (22.4%), PSWC procured 11.20 lakh tonne (11.0%) whereas PAIC was able to procure 10.32 lakh tonnes (10.1%) of wheat.

The Central Government agency FCI had been able to procure 16.44 lakh tonnes (16.1%). 

The spokesman added that District Ferozepur with 11.67 lakh tonnes of wheat procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas District Sangrur with 9.23 lakh tonnes  at second slot and district Patiala with 8.20 lakh tonnes ranked at third position.   

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INFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT  PUNJAB
                   PUNJAB CONSTITUTES STATE LEVEL COMMITTEE
FOR ADOPTION MATTERS

Chandigarh, May 13:

The Punjab Government has constituted a State level Committee for adoption mattres in the State under the guidelines of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

Disclosisng this here today a spokesman of the Women and Child Development Department Punjab said that the Committee would promote domestic adoption and regulate inter-country adoption in the country and to found a loving and caring family for every adoptable child. The Committee would also make the adoption process hassle free and less cumbersome besides to ensure transparency at all levels across the adoption process.

It would also promote legal adoption and dispel myths and misconceptions amongst common mass in general and prospective adoptive parents in particular  to curb/prevent any kind of illegal and unethical practice in the name of adoption, viz sale, trafficking, illegal transfer for adoption, the spokesman added.

The spokesman further said that the State Government has provided recognition to the five Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) for all adoption matters in the state and inter-country. These NGOs would also facilitate the needful persons in legal matters of these cases. The spokesman advised all the concerned and needful persons to adopt only presicribed route for adoption of child in the state and  inter-country level.

The department has decided to launch an awareness campaign for this purpose and a seminar is also being organised in the month of June, 2010, the spokesman added.

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Even Akalis acknowledge Tewari’s efforts for Ludhiana-Delhi flight

LUDHIANA, May 13:

It was a reward well deserved. As Ludhiana MP and the national spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee Manish Tewari walked out of the Ludhiana airport, after alighting from the maiden flight from Delhi, towards the venue of the public function organized to mark the occasion even the Akali workers standing on both sides of the road cheered and showered flowers at him in acknowledgment of his efforts to get Ludhiana-Delhi flight started after a gap of over ten years.

Acknowledging their gesture Tewari waived to them and expressed his gratitude for the honour they showered at him. Later talking to the reporters, Tewari maintained that even the Akalis had realized as who had been serious and sincere about resuming the flight between Ludhiana and Delhi which had stopped in 1999 during the Akali regime.

Taking dig at the Akalis for their attempts to claim the undue credit for resuming the flight, Tewari pointed out, why is it now only that they could start the flights. “Why not earlier?”, he asked, while pointing out, after all they are in the power for over three years now. Earlier they had their representative from Ludhiana in the parliament also.

Tewari said, he did not want to shout from the roof tops as the Akalis were doing to claim credit for the resuming of flight between Ludhiana and Delhi. He disclosed that the number of phone calls, text messages and emails he had received after the announcement of the flight schedule established beyond doubt that people know very well as who had done it for them. “People are not  to be misled by the Akalis no matter how much advertisement space they buy for their sham propaganda, a lie will always remain a lie even if told hundred times”, he said, while remarking, “even the Akali workers know it, as was obvious when they garlanded and cheered me as I was coming out of the airport”.

Tewari was accompanied in the flight by the Fatehgarh Sahib MP Sukhdev Singh Libra, senior party leaders Surinder Dawer, Nahar Singh Gill, Pawan Dewan, KK Bawa and leading industrialists, while at the airport he was received by a host of local leaders who included MLAs Jassi Khangura, Isher Singh Meharban, Darshan Singh Brar, Gurdeep Singh Bhaini, Tej Parkash Singh, former ministers Malkit Singh Dakha, Malkit Singh Birmi, Rakesh Pandey, DCC (R) President Bhalinder Singh,Raman Kumar, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Jagjiwan Pal Gill  and others.

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