Nawanshahar, February 26
Punjab NRIs’ Affairs Minister, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal while lauding the efforts of Punjabi NRIs for infrastructure upgradation of their native villages, said that they are well connected with their roots. He stressed the need for cooperation of NRIs to transform Punjab into Rangla Punjab.
Inaugurating state of the art buildings constructed at the cost of about Rs 1 Crore for Government Smart Elementary and Middle Schools at Punnu Majara, near Nawanshahar on Sunday evening, Dhaliwal said that the NRIs had a great potential for cooperating state government in all-round development of rural areas. He said, in fact, approximately 62 percent of Punjab population resides in rural Punjab, so NRIs could play an important role by developing and adopting their native villages.
He said that the construction of Mata Khivi block will cater to the primary wing, which houses eight rooms while Bhai Mani Singh block had six rooms for the Middle wing. Besides, a room for Anganwari has been constructed. Appreciating the efforts of the NRIs and Village Panchayat for transforming a dilapidated building into an ultra modern school , he assured them of the full cooperation from his both departments; Panchayat and Rural Development and NRIs Affairs. He also assured to recommend the case of upgradation of school to High to cater the students of nearby villages, Karimpur, Gorakhpur, Jethu Majra and Bairsian.
Among the prominent persons present on the occasion included DPC Chairman Satnam Singh Jalalpur, Senior AAP Leader Lalit Mohan Pathak, ADC (Rural Development) Davinder Kumar, Imrovement Trust Nawanshahar Chairman Satnam Singh Jalwaha, Village Level locals and NRI Monitoring Committee members Jasvir Singh Dhaliwal(Canada), Gian Singh (Canada), Amandeep Singh Sidhu (Australia), Er. Balbir Singh (India), Satish Kumar (India) and Rajwinder Singh (India) and Village Panchayat led by Sarpanch Santokh Kaur.
Earlier, the Minister started the various development works of the village related to cremation ground, pond and drainage. He announced to develop both ponds of the village on the Thapar Model besides a playground. He also announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh for the village Panchayat Ghar. He assured to provide furniture for the rural health dispensary of the village.
