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Bittu at it again, ‘inaugurates’ stadium while CM was in Ludhiana
The stadium has the world’s latest athletic track which was relayed with a sum of ₹8.5 crore under the smart city mission; the whole idea was visualised and executed by himself as a member of parliament
A day after member of parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu was detained by the police at his residence to deter him from visiting the newly-constructed Shaheed Udham Singh community centre, he stirred up another controversy by “inaugurating” Guru Nanak Stadium in the city on Wednesday, while chief minister Bhagwant Mann was in the city.
Work at the stadium was completed and it was waiting to be opened for the athletes.
Mamta Ashu, former councillor and wife of former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu also accompanied him. Targeting chief minister Mann, Bittu said that the CM did not inaugurate this stadium because of his other scheduled meetings as the government is more into fanfare and publicity.
Chief minister Mann was in the city on Wednesday for a meeting with police officials to discuss preparations for the general elections and law and order situation in the city. Bittu reached the stadium despite heavy security in the city.
Releasing his picture “inaugurating” the stadium, Bittu said that the stadium has been completed since the last four months. The world class stadium was conceived and completed by the Congress government. It has the world’s latest athletic track which was relayed with a sum of ₹8.5 crore under the smart city mission. The whole idea was visualised and executed by himself as a member of parliament.
He added that the stadium has a football ground, an athletics ground with a sprinkler system, and a huge seating capacity. This stadium started to wear out as it was not used by the athletes.
“Today, we have thrown it open for the public and the sportsmen. This is a gift to the people of Ludhiana and Punjab where budding and professional sportsmen will have their training in different games and athletics,” Bittu said.
“Sports is the only future of our coming generations and Punjabis have always excelled in it. We should not involve petty politics for the future of sports and sportsmen in Punjab,” he added.
The stadium was supposed to be inaugurated on March 3 by the chief minister.
The revamp of the project, worth ₹27 crore, was announced in February 2023 and was completed within a year after missing two deadlines. Expected to be completed in August 2023, the deadline was pushed to December due to monsoons and further pushed to February citing harsh winter conditions.
Bittu was in the news on February 27 for locking the municipal corporation building. A case was registered against Bittu, district congress president Sanjay Talwar, former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and former senior deputy mayor Sham Sundar Malhotra. The police had arrested the three leaders on March 5, when they offered their arrest. They were granted bail on March 6.
