Amritsar Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday promised to transform the holy into an Information Technology (IT) and business convention hub, if voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls.
Sukhbir, who had an interaction with trade and industry representatives, here at a function that the party’s Amritsar North candidate Anil Joshi had organised, said, “The previous SAD-led government had made Amritsar a tourist hub by developing the Heritage Walk, besides creating other tourist spots such as Apna Pind and the Partition Museum. Over the past five years, the holy city fell victim to the intra-party power games of the Congress. As a result, no major development project was taken up.”
Outlining his plans, Sukhbir claimed, “We want to bring in requisite infrastructure to make a Convention Centre on the lines of Frankfurt.” He also announced that the SAD-BSP alliance was committed to investing ₹ 1,500 crore to give the entire walled city a heritage look. “This will increase commerce and tourism exponentially,” he added.
On resolving issues that the industry faced, he said, “We had created the Invest Punjab department and gave it powers of 35 departments to ensure time-bound clearances within 30 days. The Congress disbanded that. The SAD-BSP alliance was committing to making government functioning paperless. We will also ensure power is made available at ₹ 5 per unit.”
He alleged that Capt Amarinder Singh had wasted five years. “Another pretender to the throne, Navjot Sidhu, will waste another five years as he is not only corrupt and arrogant but also negative in his approach towards all public works,” he alleged, claiming that Sidhu had also masterminded the conspiracy to book Majithia.
Sukhbir also addressed a large congregation of the Masih community, besides youth and panchayat rallies in favour of Anil Joshi. On AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, he claimed that the Delhi CM was just trying to befool people on the same lines as Capt Amarinder.
Youth Akali Dal (YAD) president Parambans Singh Romana on Monday asked the state government to clarify on the compulsion that led it to appoint S Chattopadhyaya as the DGP. “Due to the DGP’s lack of experience, Punjab is facing law and order problems. The chief minister, home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the state congress unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu are answerable,” he alleged.
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