In a bid to perpetuate the rich cultural legacy for the future generations, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Cultural Affairs Department to complete all the ongoing various cultural and heritage projects in the state within the stipulated timeline.Presiding over a meeting to review the progress of such heritage projects which were in different stages of completion here at CMO this morning, the Chief Minister directed the Principal Secretary Cultural Affairs to hold meetings regularly with the different executing agencies to ensure their completion expeditiously.It was informed in the meeting that the work on the prestigious Sri Guru Ravi Dass Memorial at Khuralgarh in Hoshiarpur district and Bhai Jiwan Singh (Bhai Jaita ji) Memorial at Sri Anandpur Sahib would begin soon. Likewise, Mr. Badal also asked the department to further speed up the work for the early completion of second phase of Virasat-e-Khalsa at Sri Anandpur Sahib. The Chief Minister also monitored the progress of ongoing heritage project of Jang-e-Azadi at Kartarpur (Jalandhar) besides the War Memorial and Bhagwan Valmik Tirath Sthal at Amritsar. Reviewing the position of the funds for the construction of these heritage projects, the Chief Minister directed the Finance Department to immediately release the funds to the tune of Rs. 70 crore earmarked as budgetary provision for the undertaking different cultural and heritage projects in the state.
The Chief Minister was also apprised that out of total one time contribution to the tune of Rs. 90 crore, Rs. 41 crore has been deposited so far by the different state government agencies. He also asked the heads of these agencies viz. GMADA, PUDA, PIDB, PSIEC, POWERCOM, Markfed, Mandi Board, Punjab Land Record Society besides the Excise & Taxation Department to immediately deposit their outstanding share of cultural cess amounting to Rs. 50 crore for the timely completion of these heritage projects.Responding to the Chief Minister’s direction on this count, CA GMADA, CMD POWERCOM, CA PUDA and MD PIDB assured the Chief Minister that they would get the balance amount of the cultural cess deposited at the earliest.
Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Cultural Affairs Minister Mr. Sohan Singh Thandal, Additional Chief Secretary Development Mr. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary Finance Mr. DP Reddy, Principal Secretary to CM Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Cultural Affairs Mrs. Anjali Bhawra, Special Principal Secretary to CM Mr. KJS Cheema, Secretary Irrigation Mr. KS Pannu, Secretary Mandi Board Mr. Deepinder Singh, MD PIDB Mr. A Venu Prasad, CA PUDA Mr. Manvesh Singh Sidhu, CA GMADA Mr. AK Sinha, MD Markfed Mr. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, MD PSIEC Mr. Amit Dhaka, MD Powercom Mr. KD Chaudary and Director Cultural Affairs Mr. Navjotpal Singh Randhawa.