DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER CATCHES THE ADMINISTRATION OFF-GUARD

* Takes serious note of water supply & cleanliness shortcomings in the holy city

* Orders immediate measures to bail out the residents in affected areas

* Directs to put sewerage projects on fast track

Amritsar, June 20: Catching the administration off-guard, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, today during the monthly review meeting of development projects of the city, shifted the focus from the multi crore macro projects to the basic needs of the people.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the cleanliness status of the holy city, Mr. Badal ordered immediate redressal of the issue. Mayor Municipal Corporation Mr. Bakshiram Arora informed the Deputy Chief Minister that local body is fully alive to the issue and has outlined a detailed plan for the same. He added that as per this plan, the area within the municipal limits of the city would be divided into 3 segments and the cleanliness process would be initiated in a phase-wise manner with special dust suckers.

Mr Badal ordered immediate tendering out of the project so that the work may commence at the earliest. He also directed Commissioner Municipal Corporation to obtain super sucker machines for opening up the choked sewerages of the city before the onset of monsoons.

Taking serious note of the dried up tube wells, Deputy CM directed the Commissioner Municipal Corporation and Chairman Improvement Trust to assess the status of existing tube wells and initiate necessary steps to ensure regular water supply to the people. He also directed Chief Engineer Powercom to accord top priority in issuing power connections for the tube wells.

Similarly, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal directed the concerned Superintendent engineer to expedite the 2600mm sewerage laying work on the Ram Tirath road and also ordered to fix a special meeting with the contractor of the project so that hitches, if any, may be resolved.

Earlier, Deputy CM paid obeisance at Golden Temple, along with Union Cabinet Minister Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Answering media queries, Mr. Badal said that criticism of World Yoga Day celeberations by Congress is uncalled for. He said that yoga is a scientifically proven method of physical fitness. He said that it is a health and fitness related issue and should not be given any unnecessary religious or political annotations.

He also refuted Congress allegations that a pick & choose policy was adopted in inviting political entities to the 350 years of celebrations of Foundation Day of Sri Anandpur Sahib and made it clear that Chief Minister Punjab personally invited the entire Punjab leadership to the occasion.

Besides others, Deputy Commissioner Pardeep Sabbarwal and Commissioner Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh were present on the occasion.