Centre has given nod to Ferozepur PGI satellite centre construction work: Sukhbir Badal

CHANDIGARH Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said that construction of a 100-bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur would finally start as the Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya has given go-ahead for the same

CHANDIGARH Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said that construction of a 100-bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur would finally start as the Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya has given go-ahead for the same.

The SAD president, in a statement said even though the erstwhile SAD government had transferred 27.5 acres of land for the PGI Satellite after it was approved in 2016, the project was yet to see the light of day. (HT File Photo)

The SAD president, who has also written to the Union minister in this regard, in a statement said even though the erstwhile SAD government had transferred 27.5 acres of land for the PGI Satellite after it was approved in 2016, the project was yet to see the light of day.

“Successive governments, Congress and now the Aam Aadmi Party have not made any effort to expedite the project,” said Sukhbir, adding that it was a major relief for residents of Ferozepur that the Union government had finally decided to give priority to the project.

Sukhbir said it was unfortunate that the prestigious project had been delayed by seven years even after ₹490.54 crore had been sanctioned for it along with transfer of the project site to a PGIMER, Chandigarh committee.

“Slash of grant to Punjabi University unfair”

Badal lashed out at the Punjab government for cutting down the annual budgetary grant of the Punjabi University Patiala from ₹200 crore to ₹164 crore instead of increasing it as required by the varsity.

“The government is now trying to defuse the outrage against its decision by making yet another false promise to revise the allocation,” said Sukhbir, adding that the Punjabi University vice-chancellor had said that the institution has a dark future and demanded that the budgetary grant should be ₹300 crore.

The University is already under a debt of ₹150 crore and is not in a position to pay salaries on time, added Badal asking the govt to accept the V-C Professor Arvind’s plea for increasing the budget of the university to ₹360 crore.

“Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had made similar promises to the staff and the students during one of his highly publicised visits to the campus last year, only to forget the same evening. The same script is being replayed now,” said the Akali chief in a statement here.

According to SAD president, the “unfair treatment” meted out to an institution that symbolised the commitment of Punjabis to their language, culture and their religious legacy, including research in the sacred Gurbani texts, is just one more proof of how “insensitive this government is to Punjab and Punjabi and to the heritage bequeathed to us by the great Gurus.”

“It is not about finances. The fact is that this government is implementing an anti-Punjab, and anti-Sikh agenda set by its masters in Delhi,” said Sukhbir.

Meanwhile, the students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and other unions, who are on an indefinite protest under a united front of “Punjabi University Bachao Morcha,” are demanding that either a representative of the government of Punjab visit the campus or the government increases the grant.

( With inputs from Jaspreet Singh in Patiala)