Punjab Education and PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla hoisted the national flag during district-level Republic Day function at Raja Bhalindra Singh Sports Complex, Polo Ground here. He also inspected the parade and contingents of Police, Home Guard, Scouts and NCC presented salutation during the march past. He was accompanied with Patiala Member Parliament Mrs. Preneet Kaur and other dignitaries.Addressing the gathering, Mr. Singla while extended his warm wishes to the people of the state, he also bowed his head to pay tributes to the martyrs, who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country. Paying respect to the sacrifices of the Indian army, paramilitary and police forces for protecting democratic values and constitution of the country, he said that their sacrifices are engraved within deep of our hearts. Referring his father late Mr. Sant Ram Singla, the Minister draws the special attention to his father’s deep association with his birthplace Patiala.Apprising about the pro-people steps taken by the state government, Mr. Vijay Inder Singla said that education, health and infrastructural development are the top priorities of the Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab Government and Captain Amarinder Singh has always fulfilled the aspiration of the Punjabis and contributed to creating an atmosphere to flourish art and culture. Chief Minister is also committed for the prosperity of the entire state including Patiala, he added.Cabinet Minister said that state government has celebrated 550th Prakash Purb of Sri Nanak Dev Ji with great enthusiasm and reverence, adding that besides making stupendous efforts for the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, the state government had incurred Rs.300 crore for the all-round development of 70 villages related with Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Similarly, Rs.271 crore spent to confer heritage status to Sultanpur Lodhi, Rs.102 crore for Prakash Purb Marg (Sultanpur Lodhi). Besides this, it was also decided that Bebe Nanaki University would set up.Lauding the efforts of the state government for Health, Education and infrastructural development including overall progress of Patiala, the Education Minister said that the Cabinet has given its nod to fill new 6000 vacancies of teachers and all the posts in schools will be filled soon. He informed that 9000 schools are in the process of upgrading to smart schools and 1000 biometrics for attendances, 8000 projectors and 1000 solar panels have been installed in various schools.
Mr. Singla said that the government has constructed Sri Guru Nanak Super-Specialty Block at Rajindra Hospital with the cost of Rs.150 crore, while Rs.44 crore for renovation of Medical College Rajindra Hospital, Rs.7 crore for Nursing Hostel and Rs.4 crore incurred for Dental Block. He said that 45.89 lakh beneficiaries have covered under Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana. Government has set up a Cancer Diagnose and Treatment Center at Homi Bhabha Cancer Care Facility in district Sangrur.He said that the Punjab government has established Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University at Patiala to promote sports. Divulging development works of Patiala, he said that with Rs.65 crore, 81km roads were repaired under Patiala Urban Mission, while Rs.5 crore has been released for the projects of Rajindra & Sheesh Mahal Lakes, Rs.7.34 crore for Nullah channelization and Rs.11 crore for parking lots in the city. Similarly, Rs4.96 crore has been released for the construction of playgrounds in schools under Patiala Parliamentary Constituency, besides; the grant of Rs2.15 crore for installing solar panels in 66 schools and project work in 266 schools of the district has started.The Education Minister informed that a grant of Rs.37.63 crore has released for the construction of 2376 new classrooms in the state and Rs.1908.70 lakh and Rs.846.01 lakh has sanctioned for the construction of 202 new libraries and 101 new science labs, respectively. Likewise, Rs.2498.15 lakh has been approved for the construction of 353 new rooms for the students of Art & Craft. Apart from this, Rs.7145 green boards were installed in 3500 elementary schools and work to install 1700 more green boards in 8500 other elementary schools is under process.Mr. Singla said that 68000 new dual desks for elementary school students have been installed and the dearth of furniture in another 4876 elementary schools will meet soon and work for the same would be started from February. He said that a grant of Rs.59 crore has already been issued for repair and maintenance. Education Minister apprised that grant of Rs.30.88 crore has released to install solar panels in 880 schools, work for which will be completed within 100 days.Construction work of 8061 projectors has started in secondary, high and primary schools across the state, while work for installing 3107 computers in 333 schools will start in February. The Public Works Minister further informed that Rs.1221 crore for up-gradation of 2559 km roads and Rs.610 crore would be incurred for the construction of railway under and over bridges at 27 locations.Expressing satisfaction over the action taken so far under the anti-drug drive, he said that our government has completely broken up the supply line of the drugs and started many initiatives for the rehabilitation of the victims.
Mr. Singla said that around 5 lakh volunteers from villages and cities have been registered under DAPO and Buddy program and 35 drug de-addiction centers across the state, 9 drug de-addiction centers in central jails and 106 private drug addiction centers are treating patients.Referring to the various programs implemented for the farmers, the minister said that Rs.3500 crore relief to 4.1 lakh farmers in the first two phases and Rs.1009 crore relief to 1,42,260 farmers in the third phase has provided without any discrimination. He said that soon fourth phase of relief scheme would be started which would include farmers with more than two acres of land of commercial banks.The cabinet minister said that our government has provided employment to millions of youth under private, government and self-employment schemes and despite the financial constraints, the government was constantly spending for development including social security pensions.Meanwhile, the Education Minister announced Rs.10,000 per school and college, who were participated in the cultural program. Mr. Singla also announced holiday on Monday, January 27 in the government schools that attended Republic Day events. Cabinet Minister Mr. Singla and Lok Sabha MP Mrs. Preneet Kaur honoured freedom fighters and distributed tricycles and sewing machines to the needy persons.The Minister also honored the first and second position contingents of the parade with tableaux besides honouring the players, students, DAPOs, Buddies, Panchayat Members, Officers, Social Workers and other dignitaries.Parade Commander DSP (Probationer) Mr. Prithvi Singh Chahal led the contingents of District Police, Home Guards, NCC, Air and Army Wings, Girl's Battalion, St. John's Ambulance Red Cross, Girl's Guide, Scout & First IRB and Patiala Pipe Band.Tableaux of various department depicting welfare schemes were the main attraction of the event. Students of various schools and colleges presented a fascinating colorful program.
Meanwhile, the Patiala Association of Deaf joined the function with Persons with disabilities.During the Republic Day function held at Polo Ground freedom fighters and their family members, MLA Rajinder Singh & Harinder Pal Singh Chandumajra, Mr. Vijay Indra Singla's mother Mrs. Usha Singla, wife Mrs. Dipa Singla, daughter Gauri Singla, brother Mr. Vinod Singla, Harinderpal Singh Harrymann, PRTC Chairman KK Sharma, Gursharan Kaur Randhawa Chairperson of Punjab State Welfare Board, Sanjeev Sharma Bittu Mayor of Municipal Corporation, Senior deputy Mayor Yoginder Singh Yogi, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University Dr. BS Ghuman, Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Bhupindra Singh Punjab Sports University. Lt. General JS Cheema, Chief Minister's OSD S. Amrit Pratap Singh Honey Sekhon and Rajesh Kumar, Punjab Gou Sewa Commission Chairman Sachin Sharma, District Planning Committee Chairman Santokh Singh, Chairman Improvement Trust Sant Lal Banga, Former City Congress President K.K. Malhotra, Mehla Congress City President Kiran Dhillon, K.K. Sehgal, Anil Mehta, Dr. Darshan Singh Ghuman, Sukhdev Mehta, Ranjit Singh Nikkra, Ravinder Pal Singh Sweety, Tejinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Bahadur Khan, Naresh Duggal, Nand Lal Guraba. Ved Kapoor, Manmohan Arora, Krishna Chand Budhu Vice Chairman PUNSP, Pawan Dabbi Director PSPCL, Youth Congress President Anuj Khosla, Sandeep Malhotra, Sessions Judge of Patiala Mr. Rajinder Agrawal and other Judicial Officers, Divisional Commissioner Dipinder Singh, I.G. Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit, SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu, Dr. Sukhmin Kaur Sidhu, Commissioner of Municipal Corporation Poonamdeep Kaur, ADC (D) Dr. Preeti Yadav, Chief Administrator of Puda Surti Mallik, Assistant Commissioner (UT) T. Benue, SP H Navneet Singh Bains, SP City Varun Sharma, SP Investigation Harmeet Singh Hundal, SP Traffic Palwinder Singh Cheema, SDM Charanjit Sing, Assistant Commissioner (G) Dr. Ismat Vijay Singh, Assistant Commissioner (Gri) Miss Inayat, Joint Commissioners Lal Vishwash and Avkesh Kumar, members of Zilla Parishad and Block Samitis, Panch-Sarpanch, Counselor and others prominent personalities were present on the occasion.