"The Punjab Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh nurtures a vision to put the State firmly on track in terms of holistic development across all sectors thus converting the disasters left behind by the previous regime into grand triumphs."These views were expressed by the Local Government Minister, Punjab, Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu here today at the Punjab Municipal Bhawan during his interaction with the media-persons in the presence of Education Minister Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary and Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister Mr. Sadhu Singh Dharamsot after flagging off 11 fire vehicles for as many constituencies. Disclosing more, the minister said that as per his promise made to Sunam MLA Mr. Aman Arora in the State Assembly, he is flagging off the first vehicle to Sunam-the land of Shaheed Udham Singh. He also made it clear that the State Government is committed to full scale progress of Punjab on all parameters without any bias towards any section.
Putting the 'Fire Services and Ambulances' in the category of essential services, the minister said that it is the serious endeavour of the State Government to provide all amenities of basic nature to the people and ensure to mitigate their lot.Divulging more, Mr. Sidhu said that out of 11 fire vehicles flagged off today, each would cater to the needs of Jalandhar, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar, Dhuri, Sunam, Faridkot, Nabha, Dera Baba Nanak, Raikot and Nakodar cities.Coming to the futuristic vision, Mr. Sidhu elaborated that apart from the fire vehicles flagged off today, 8 more would be flagged off next week with 1 vehicle each for Jalandhar and Patiala, and 2 each for Ludhiana, Bathinda and Amritsar. He also disclosed that a Fire Services Directorate would come up and a Fire Prevention Act would also be put into place regarding which deliberations would be held during the course of next cabinet meeting. He also said that the Punjab Government would observe 'Fire Extinguishing Service Week' on annual basis from 17th-21st April.
Lashing out at the previous regime, the minister said that out of the grant of Rs. 90 crore given by the Union Government only Rs. 17 crore was spent and the rest was resumed. He also said that due to this non-utilization and haphazard use of funds, Punjab has been placed in 'Red Zone' by the Union Government. He also brought out that Punjab has 195 fire vehicles for 54 fire stations out of which 114 are outdated.Terming today's flagging off as a small beginning, Mr. Sidhu said that the State Government would take it forward with a missionary zeal.On the occasion, MLAs Mr. Aman Arora, Mr. Pargat Singh, Mr. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Mr. Rajinder Beri, Mr. Susheel Kumar Rinku, Mr. Barinderjit Singh Pahra, Mr. Dalvir Singh Goldy, Mr. Amit Vij, Advisor Local Government Department Dr. Amar Singh, Congress leader Daman Thind Bajwa, Additional Chief Secretary Local Government Mr. Satish Chandra and Director Local Government K.K. Yadav were also present.