New Delhi, June 30: Former Punjab Finance Minister Surinder Singla was cremated with state honours at the Lodhi Road Crematorium here on Friday.
However, no one from the Punjab Cabinet, including Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, was present to bid farewell to the former minister.
In a press statement, the Punjab Government said: “The mortal remains of Surinder Singla were consigned to flames with state honours on Friday. The government had declared Friday as a holiday as a mark of respect for Singla, who was a Cabinet Minister in the previous tenure of Capt Amarinder as Chief Minister, who described his death as a personal loss.” The CM had tweeted his condolence for Singla on Thursday.
The statement also mentioned the police guard of honour at the cremation of Singla as a “mark of respect to him”, adding that the state resident commissioner laid a wreath on the departed leader on the behalf of the government. The state Cabinet was marked absent with veterans like former MP and former LG Puducherry Virendra Kataria anguished about it, considering former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur attended the cremation. “It is unfortunate considering Singla steered Punjab’s finances at a critical time,” Kataria said, adding that one SP-level officer laid a wreath on the behalf of the state DGP.
There was no representation from the AICC or state Congress either though Singla was general secretary of the Punjab Congress for some time when RL Bhatia was president. Manmohan Singh not only attended the cremation, but he was also among the first few leaders to send a personal condolence note to Sushma Singla, the late leader’s wife on Thursday.
Also present at the cremation were former MPs Gurcharan Dadhahoor, Iqbal Singh and Tarlochan Singh.
The highest ranking officers from Punjab government were Rakhee Gupta Bhandari, Resident Commissioner, Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi, and Rahul Bhandari, Additional Resident Commissioner, Punjab Bhawan, who laid a wreath on the behalf of the government.
Union Minister Vijay Goel and industrialist GD Goenka were also present. Absentee leaders from Punjab might attend the bhog ceremony of Surinder Singla on Monday.
Source Tribune India
