"The holy city of Amritsar would see a museum coming up which would make the younger generation aware regarding the dying folk arts of Punjab. Besides this, an art gallery connected with Punjabi culture, dressing and Punjabi way of life and a food street with choicest delicacies of the state would be an added attraction." These was disclosed by the Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister, Punjab, Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu here today at Punjab Bhawan during a brainstorming meeting with the eminent personalities and intellectuals hailing from Punjabi literary, cultural and film spheres.The minister further said that a museum concerning partition of the country has been established at town hall in Amritsar. He also said that more than one lakh devotees visit Darbar Sahib, Sri Amritsar on daily basis and it is in keeping with this huge number that a museum dedicated to dying folk arts, musical instruments and articles would be set up in the holy city. He also divulged that an art gallery would also be established where the traditional Punjabi articles would be kept for purchase by the tourists as souvenirs resulting in artisans engaged in their manufacture deriving economic benefits. Similarly, a food street having tasty Punjabi cuisine would also come up.
Earlier, Mr. Sidhu while addressing the meeting said that the cultural policy draft has been finalized and today's meeting has been called before bringing it out in public. He also said that the draft was sent to all the experts present today. During the debate on suggestions given by various experts, all those present were of the firm opinion that the purpose of the cultural policy is to connect the young generation with the glorious and vastly rich historical, cultural and vibrant traditions of Punjab whereas the tourism policy is centred on increasing the inflow of tourists thereby giving a huge boost to the economy of the State.Giving an assurance to act upon some valuable suggestions received in the meeting, Mr. Sidhu announced that the coming few days would see the prominence being accorded to Punjabi language on all the signboards in all the cities and towns falling under the Local Government department. He also divulged that he would meet the Chief Minister and the Higher Education & Linguistics Minister to chalk out a strategy for launching a campaign to ensure the prosperity of Punjabi language.
The minister also disclosed that financial assistance would be provided by the government to the institutions devoted to the propagation of Punjabi Literature, Culture and Music and provisions would be made for permanent grant to these institutions. Besides this, a tour programme would also be chalked out for better maintenance of the places connected with the eminent writers and artists of Punjab. The meeting also saw consensus being reached on implementing a single window system for facilitating film shootings in the state. Similarly, serious deliberations were also held on constituting a Punjab Film Development Corporation on the pattern of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) apart from focus on children's films and animation ones. The minister emphasized the submission of a written plan to put all these suggestions on a firm footing so as to make them a part of the cultural policy.On the occasion, Principal Secretary, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Mr. Jaspal Singh, Director Mr. Shivdular Singh Dhillon, Padmashri Dr. Surjit Patar, Satwinder Bitti, Pammi Bai, Dr. Sunita Dhir, Ninder Ghugianvi, Gurmeet Bawa, Dr. Lakhwinder Johal, Filmmaker Manmohan Singh, Prof. Rajpal Singh, Dr. Deepak Manmohan Singh, Darshan Aulakh, Kewal Dhaliwal, Diwan Manna, Jung Bahadur Goyal, Sukhi Brar, Dr. Surjit, Dr. Baldev Singh Dhaliwal, Sharanjit Singh, Manpal Tiwana and Tara Singh Sandhu were also present.