AMRITSAR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the last SAD led government had put Amritsar on the world tourist map even as he promised to transform the holy city into an Information Technology (IT) and Convention centre under the next SAD- BSP alliance government.
The SAD President, who had a freewheeling interaction with representatives of the trade and industry here at a function organised by the party’s Amritsar North candidate Anil Joshi, said the previous SAD-led government had made Amritsar a tourist hub by developing the Heritage Walk besides creating other tourist spots such as Apna Pind and the Partition Museum. He said during the last five years the holy city had fallen victim to intra-party power games of the Congress and no major development project was taken up in the last five years.
Outlining his plans for the future, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the city would be developed as a IT and Convention Centre hub. “We want to bring in requisite infrastructure to make a Convention Centre on the lines of Frankfurt”. He also announced that the SAD-BSP alliance was committed to investing Rs 1, 500 crore to give the entire walled city a heritage look. “This will increase commerce and tourism exponentially”, he added.
Speaking about the issues faced by the industry, Mr Badal said “we had created the Invest Punjab department and given it powers of 35 departments to ensure time bound clearances within thirty days for all investments done in the State.” He said the department was disbanded during the present Congress regime. Mr Badal said the SAD - BSP alliance was committing to making government functioning paperless and ensuring there was no interference in the functioning of the industrial sector. “We will also ensure power at the rate of Rs 5 per unit”, he added.
Talking about leadership qualities, Mr Badal said “you need a chief minister who is positive and becomes an engine for growth”. He said five years had been wasted by Capt Amarinder Singh. “Another pretender to the throne - Navjot Sidhu will waste another five years as he is not only corrupt and arrogant but also negative in his approach towards all public works”. Mr Badal went on to give the example of how Sidhu had as local bodies and tourism minister stopped maintenance of the iconic Heritage Street besides putting a brake on the BRTS & tourism projects.
Mr Badal said this was not all. He said instead of doing anything for the holy city, Sidhu devoted the last three months solely on finding ways and means to file false cases against the top SAD leadership including Mr Bikram Singh Majithia. He said Sidhu was instrumental in bringing in new DGP - S Chattopadhyay when all other top police officers including three successive chief of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) chiefs and even the Patiala SSP refused to register illegal cases at the behest of the Congress government.
Mr Badal, who also addressed a large congregation of the Masih community besides youth and panchayat rallies in favour of Mr Anil Joshi, also took on AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal for spreading falsehoods. He said Kejriwal was trying to befool the people in the same manner as done by Capt Amarinder Singh. He said Kejriwal was promising Rs 1, 000 per month to all women in Punjab but had not given Rs 10 per month to women in Delhi. He said similarly AAP was promising 300 units of power to domestic consumers per bill cycle in Punjab at a time when its 200 units per bill cycle scheme had flopped in Delhi and not benefitted anyone. He also disclosed that even though all employees in Delhi were serving on contractual basis Kejriwal was talking about regularising all contractual employees in Punjab.
Mr Badal also announced that the next SAD- BSP government would give Rs 2, 000 per month to women heads of families. He said 33 per cent seats in technical colleges would be reserved for government school students. He also announced that students would be eligible for a Rs 10 lakh interest free Student Loan to cover their study cost in India and abroad. He also announced that a Rs 5 lakh interest free loan would be given to young entrepreneurs.
Party district President Gurpartap Singh Tikka also accompanied the SAD President.