SUKHBIR UNFURLS FLAG AT SAS NAGAR
· PUNJAB WRITES TO CENTRE TO ALLOW CIVIL FLIGHTS FROM ADAMPUR AIRPORT
· PUNJAB WOULD BE POWER SURPLUS NEXT YEAR
SAS Nagar, August 15: Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab today said that people of Punjab gave a positive vote to incumbent SAD-BJP government to continue development agenda in the state, creating a history in the country.
Addressing the people after unfurling tricolor in Independence Day function held here today in Government College, Phase-6, Mr. Badal said that the historic repeat mandate has given us a challenge to live up to the raised expectations of people of Punjab and fulfill their aspirations. Vowing to continue the development agenda with added vigor, Mr. Badal said that they were aiming to make Punjab a leading state in the country on development index.
Focusing on integrated development of the state, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the Punjab government has chalked out the futuristic vision paper for next 25 years, keeping in view the challenges of the future and all development programmes were being chalked out keeping whole state in the view. He said that Punjab would be the first state in the country that would have all its cities linked with 4/6 lane roads by the year 2014.
Stressing upon the need for easy connectivity of Punjab with the rest of the country, Mr. Badal said that award for construction of Mohali airport has been given to Larson & Tubro, a multinational company and airport terminal would be ready with in 16 months. He said that Punjab government had already acquired land for expansion of Ludhiana airport and latest state-of-art night landing instrumentation have been already installed at airport. He said that with the expansion of Ludhiana airport Boeing-320 planes could be able to land at Ludhiana airport. He said that domestic flights from Bathinda airport would start next month and Punjab government has already approached Union government to allow civil flights from Adampur Army Airport. Mr. Badal said that with the completion of all these airports, Punjab will be the only state in the country that will have international airports at the distance of every 60 kms.
Promising to permanently solve the chronic problem of power shortage by next year, Mr. Badal said that with the completion of Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Goindwal Sahib thermal plants by next year, the Punjab would be the first state that would be power surplus.
Reiterating his resolve to intensify his fight against narcotic mafia, Mr. Badal warned that they should either leave the state or they would be put behind the bars. He said that he has initiated multi-pronged strategy including auctioning the assets of drug lords to put an end to this menace. Mr. Badal also sought the cooperation of parents so that they should put moral pressure on their children and check them going astray on the path of drug addiction.
Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister inspected the parade and took salute from an impressive march past led by Parade Commander Mr. Kuldeep Singh Chahal, ASP and comprising of contingents of Punjab Police, Punjab Armed Battalions, Home Guards and NCC cadets. On this occasion, a colorful variety show presented by various schools mesmerized the audience. The Deputy Chief Minister honored 16 freedom fighters besides distributing tri-cycles and sewing machines to the needy ones. He also honored 19 personalities for their significant contribution in different fields besides 10 meritorious students.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Mr. Harbhajan Mann, Chairman, District Planning Committee, Former Union Minister Mr. Balwant Singh Ramuwalia, Mr. Ujjagar Singh Badali and Mr. Jasjit Singh Bunny, both former MLAs, Mr. Kiranbir Singh Kang, Vice President, SAD, Mr. RK Jaiswal, DIG Roopnagar Range, Mr. Varun Roozam, Deputy Commissioner and Mr. Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP.
