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DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER UNFURLS THE NATIONAL FLAG AT PATIALA


Three more Lok Adalats and 16 Court Rooms to be set-up - Chief Justice

Chandigarh 26 January, 2009

Hon'ble Mr. Justice, T.S. Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, today on the occasion of 60th Republic Day, unfurled the National Flag in the premises of High Court.
Mr. Justice, Thakur in his Republic Day address said that on this day every face glows with spirit of patriotism, when the pride of being an Indian reverberates in every voice, when all Indians cones together to celebrate this big day. He said in order to provide speedy justice three more Lok Adalats and 16 new Court Rooms would be set up. Hon'ble Chief Justice of India would inaugurate three new Lok Adalats and also lay foundation stone of 16 new Court Rooms on 14th February, 2009. He said that earlier set up three daily Lok Adalats disposed off 1100 cases in three months. He said at present three crore cases in India, 12 lakh cases in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh and 2.5 lakh cases were pending in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Hon'ble Mr. Justice Thakur further disclosed that Mega Lok Adalats was held in which 2.92 lakh pending cases were disposed off.

He said that let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals of our constitution to assure the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.

National Anthem and Patriotic Songs were sung by the students of Shivalik Public School Mohali and folk dance Bhangra was also performed by them.


BADAL’S RARE GESTURE FOR PM’S SPEEDY RECOVERY
Akhand Path at Golden Temple begins


AMRITSAR JANUARY 26, 2009

In a gesture unprecedented in the Indian Political stream, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today got the continuous recitation (Akhand Path) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib started at Sri Harimandir Sahib ( Golden Temple ) to pray for speedy recovery, sound health and long life of Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The continuing recitation of Akhand Path was started this morning at the Golden Temple .
Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains said that Mr. Badal “is deeply concerned about the health of the Prime Minister and has been praying for his good health during his Gurbani recitation every morning”. Mr. Bains said that the decision to organize an Akhand Path of Sri Guru Granth Sahib was taken by the Chief Minister on the day of the Prime Minister’s operation. The starting of Akhand Path coincide with the 60th Republic Day of the country.

Later, Mr. Badal touched an emotional chord during the course of his Republic Day speech when he said “Dr. Manmohan Singh was born and lived up in the holy city of Sri Amritsar Sahib. Therefore, from the soil of this holy place, I pray to the Almighty on behalf of all Punjabis that Dr. Singh may recover quickly to resume charge of leadership of the nation. All Punjabis join me in this Ardas”, he said.




BADAL CALLS FOR “GENUINE FEDERALISM”
Unfurls Tri-Color on 60th Republic Day



AMRITSAR JANUARY 26:
The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called for the setting of a “genuinely federal system” of governance, describing it as the only guarantee to ensure unity, integrity, development and prosperity of the country.

Mr. Badal also decried the tendency towards “remote control approach to governance” and said that the top-down approach to issues of development and governance had already come a cropper. “Decentralization of the decision making process in the only answer to the problems being faced by the people”, said Mr. Badal.

Addressing a mammoth gathering after unfurling the national flag on the historic occasion of India's 60th Republic Day function here at Guru Nanak Stadium, Mr. Badal felicitated the people of the state and said: “The true intent of spirit of the long and profound deliberations in the Constituent Assembly was focused on the need for federal form of government. Unfortunately, successive governments at the Centre have systematically eroded that spirit and turned the system into a unitary form of government”.
Quoting liberally from the speeches of an Architect of the Indian Constitution Dr.BR Ambedkar, Mr. Badal warned that this trend can have dangerous implications for peace and stability of the country. Describing Dr.Ambedkar as “the greatest Constitutional genius of the country”, Mr. Badal regretted that the dream of this great visionary have been shattered by a temptation on the part of the Centre to arrogate all powers to itself. He said: “The States governments are in the best position to understand and redress the grievances and the problems of the people as these are directly responsible for the delivery of services to the people as per their felt needs and are alive to the ground realities”.
The Chief Minister said that stronger states meant stronger India. Federalism was another way towards strengthening the bonds between our people with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and regional backgrounds. Therefore, the states need to be strengthened and given more financial and political autonomy, especially with regard to decision-making process on issues of local and regional development and the promotion of their cultural and linguistic identities.

Blaming the Centre for its apathetic and discriminating attitude towards Punjab, the Chief Minister said that it had always betrayed Punjab on every front, be it agriculture, industry and other sectors. He said that Central policies were inimical to the interests of the Punjab. He cited an example that agriculture was a state subject but the Centre was fixing the MSP, finalizing the prices of diesel and fertilizers contrary to the interests of the farming community. The Chief Minister further lamented the callous attitude of Centre for not even acknowledging Punjab's immense contribution in the National Freedom struggle and making our country self reliant in food production. He said Punjab was contributing nearly 70% of its share in the national food basket but what we had gained in return, asked Mr. Badal. He pointed out that Centre had always turned down our repeated requests to link the MSP with price index thereby leaving the entire farming community at the cross roads.

The Chief Minister called upon the people to take a firm resolve on this solemn day to strengthen democratic values of our country which had acquired an enviable position as the world’s largest democracy. He also called for to start a second war of Independence to free our nation from poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and social evils such as drug addiction, female foeticide, dowry, caste discrimination etc. He underscored the need for a people's movement against these menaces. “Only the people will can bring about a revolution in our ways of thinking, asserted Mr. Badal.
Reminiscing the unparalleled contributions of Punjab in bringing about the historic moment of Independence of this great nation, Mr. Badal said that 80% of the great freedom fighters and patriots, who made supreme sacrifices for attaining freedom, belonged to Punjab besides several martyrs and warriors who attained martyrdom were also Punjabis which indeed was a matter of great honour and pride for all of us and even lakhs of Punjabis had to face the brunt of partition in 1947 and were displaced.

The Chief Minister bemoaned that our freedom fighters and patriots laid down their lives for the betterment of our countrymen but it was a sad plight that the aspirations of our freedom fighters had not yet been cherished because they dreamt of an Independent India free from the maladies of illiteracy, unemployment and starvation. Mr. Badal said: “I especially salute the long line of heroes and martyrs from Punjab because of whose selfless devotion to the cause of the nation, we are a free nation today”.
Outlining the various initiatives taken by the SAD-BJP alliance government for the development of the state and welfare of the all sections of the society, Mr. Badal said that one of the key areas was power. We were in the process of setting four major thermal plants to more than double the generation of power in the state from the present 6200 MWs to nearly 12000 MWs. He also said that the government had already started a scheme to provide subsidized ration i.e. Atta-Dal to 13.5 lac families at a cost of Rs.700 crore annually. Likewise the government was already in process to set up Adarsh Schools to impart quality education to the intelligent and poor students at a cost of Rs.400 crore.
On the development of the holy city of the Amritsar, Mr. Badal said that a special project with the assistance from a reputed Japanese firm to provide facilities of sewerage and drinking water in the city at a cost of Rs.360 crore had already been launched besides the prestigious elevated road project to directly connect Sri Harimandir Sahib and Sri Durgiana Mandir free from congestion due to heavy vehicular traffic. A special development grant of Rs.165 crore for the Amritsar city had already been given by the state government. He said a World Class University would be soon set up at Amritsar and a Central team was expected to visit the city for the selection of site within week. Attari-Wagha Check post had been revamped to facilitate the Indo-Pak trade at a massive investment of Rs.130 crore besides a detailed project had been worked out for revamping the prestigious Government Medical College and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital at a cost of Rs.144 crore.

Earlier, Mr.Badal inspected the parade led by Mr. Pardeep Kumar Yadav, IPS and took a salute during an impressive march past by the contingents of Punjab Police, Punjab Home Guards, NCC Cadets, Bharat Scouts and Girls guides besides the Punjab police band and 8 other school bands. A colorful variety programme including Bhangra, Gidha, Group Dance, PT show presented by the students of various local schools and colleges regaled the audience and martial arts performed by ‘Akal Purkh ki Fauj’ made the audience spell bound. As many as 14 tableaux from various departments depicted the on going developmental activities of the State Government. Mr. Badal honoured 12 freedom fighters on this occasion. Besides the Chief Minister also gave tri-cycles to the physical challenged persons and honoured the eminent personalities from different walks of life for their outstanding services towards the society with a momento and a commendation certificate. As many as 437 beneficiaries belonging to Vimukt communities were bestowed with ownership rights of 5 marla plots on the panchayati land in Amritsar district.

Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Member Parliament Raj Mohinder Singh Majitha, former Information & Public Relations Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Media Advisor to Chief Minister Mr. Harcharan Bains, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. DS Guru, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandeep Singh Brar, besides the local civil and police administration, senior party leaders and workers of SAD-BJP and members of the SGPC.