Fazilka, the 22nd district of Punjab, on Friday celebrated its first anniversary with deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal gifting the region projects worth Rs 64 crore. After a prolonged agitation under the umbrella of a Joint Action Committee (JAC) and a final hunger strike by BJP MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani, Fazilka along with Pathankot was given district status on July 27 last year.
The city's main junctions were decorated like Diwali had come three months early. Sukhbir, who presided over a function organised to mark the occasion at the MR College Stadium, laid the foundation stone of the Rs 37-crore district administrative complex (DAC), besides inaugurating a Rs 59-lakh computerised revenue record centre at Fazilka, a Rs 3.15-crore 66KV power grid station at village Theh Qalandar and a Rs 2-crore high-level bridge over Jalalabad main drain at Ladhuka.
The deputy CM, whose constituency Jalalabad is part of Fazilka, also laid the foundation stone of a Rs 9.81-crore new building of the Government Senior Secondary School for Girls and a Rs 7-crore multi-purpose sports stadium at Jalalabad, besides inaugurating two bridges that cost Rs 1.21 crore on the Jalalabad drain crossings
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He also announced the setting up of a 100-bed hospital costing Rs 22 crore at Jalalabad at the earliest, and promised construction of a building for the Government Senior Secondary School for Boys too. He said that being a border area, the development of Fazilka district would always remain on the top of the agenda of the state government.
In reply to a query, Sukhbir pointed out that due to deficit of rainfall in the state, the state government has already urged the union government to release Rs 800 crore for providing relief to the farming community, which was "forced to bleed to save the paddy crop".
{{/usCountry}}In reply to a query, Sukhbir pointed out that due to deficit of rainfall in the state, the state government has already urged the union government to release Rs 800 crore for providing relief to the farming community, which was "forced to bleed to save the paddy crop".
{{/usCountry}}Forest minister Jyani, Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, state BJP president Ashwani Sharma and deputy commissioner Basant Garg were among those present on the occasion.