As a part of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's personal endeavour to connect the youngsters settled abroad with the motherland of their forefathers under the ‘Connect to Your Roots (CYR)’ scheme, the state government on Tuesday reviewed the arrangements to host the first batch of NRI young boys and girls from UK which was slated to visit Punjab from August 6-17, 2018.Disclosing this here today, Principal Secretary NRI Affairs SR Ladhar stated a meeting to chalk out detailed itinerary was held under the chairmanship of Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar here at CMO. Detailed discussions were held in the meeting regarding lodging and boarding arrangements for the batch which would be visiting the historical and religious places across the state and the Chief Minister directed the Department of NRI Affairs to make adequate arrangements for visiting NRI youth, he added. This group would consist of 10 young boys and girls between age group of 16-22 years.The Principal Secretary further said that the Punjab Government had appointed UK based NRI Varinder Singh Khera as Local Coordinator for CYR scheme who would coordinate with visiting batch and Officers of NRI Affairs Department of the state government.
Mr. Ladhar said that the group would be visiting Sri Harmandir Sahib, Jallianwala Bagh, Wagha Border (Indo-Pak Border) and War Memorial at Amritsar, Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Kartarpur (Jalandhar), Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Memorial Banga and Khalsa Heritage Complex Anandpur Sahib. Apart from this, they would also be visiting their ancestral village for a day or two and attending Independence Day celebration at one of the district headquarters are part of program.During the meeting, Coordinator UK based NRI Khera said that children of NRI Punjabis settled in UK were excited to visit Punjab. He said that after the tour of first batch, he would send a proposal to state government for second batch of youth based in Europe so that they could be acquainted about their rich legacy and glorious heritage.Pertinently, under CYR scheme, the Punjabi youth settled abroad has been provided with a golden opportunity to visit the land of their ancestors. This unique initiative would go a long way in cementing their age old bonds with soil of their grandparents besides keeping them abreast with the rich culture, traditions and values.It may be recalled that Punjab government’s unique `Connect with your roots’ (CYR) programme was launched from London (UK) in September, 2017 by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.The meeting was attended, among others, by Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Special Principal Secretary to CM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and Additional Principal Secretary to Cm Girish Dayalan and Commissioner NRI Affairs Indu Malhotra.