Gurdaspur, August 15: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh laced his Independence Day speech with heavy poll sops ahead of the by-election to the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.
The CM, after unfurling the national flag at the government college stadium, delivered a 20-minute speech in which he doled out numerous bounties for people of Batala, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar, Pathankot, Fatehgarh Churian, Dera Baba Nanak and Dhariwal — the main towns that comprise the Lok Sabha seat.
After speaking about his government’s intentions of ridding the state of the scourge of drugs and to provide employment to each household, Amarinder launched himself full throttle ahead into giving a massive infrastructure fillip to voters of the area.
“Since I am in Gurdaspur it will only be appropriate on my part to give you some important things,” said Amarinder, who became the first CM to unfurl the tricolour in the district headquarters of Gurdaspur in 70 years.
Much to the delight of the sardine packed stadium, Amarinder announced the setting up of a Sainik School in this district. He, however, refused to divulge the exact location for building the venture. He also spoke of giving a Rs 2000 crore tourism boost but he neither named the exact venture nor disclosed the place where it would be established.
“Cola manufacturer — PEPSI — has agreed to set up a plant in Pathankot. It will prove to be a big boost to the economy and will also provide hundreds of employment opportunities. The plant will solve the unemployment problem of the area to some extent,” he said.
He said his government had sanctioned a grant of Rs 118 crore to improve the school infrastructure in the district. “Rs 40 crore has also be sanctioned to upgrade the health facilities in Gurdaspur town while Rs 84 crore has been given to the rural development ministry to build toilets in the constituency,” he said.
“I have learnt that for the last few years a technical problem had meant that large parts of Gurdaspur town used to go without power for long periods of time. From today, there will be no electricity problem in the city. I have instructed power board officials to ensure that not even a single colony of Gurdaspur remains without power,” he said much to the applause of the crowd.
The CM also announced a degree college for the constituency to be constructed at Kalanaur where a massive chunk of Panchayat land is lying vacant. This was a long pending demand of the residents and had even been made an election promise by Dera Baba Nanak sitting Congress MLA S S Randhawa. Kalanaur falls in the Dera Baba Nanak assembly seat.
He also announced a grant of Rs 7.5 crore for improving water supply and sanitation facilities in Fatehgarh Churian.
“Dinanagar will soon be upgraded to the status of a sub-divisional town,” said Amarinder.
News Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news
