Laying the foundation stone of a ₹15-crore Government Degree College in Ajnala, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday once again batted for reverse migration among Punjabis, blaming the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP for Punjab youth’s exodus from the country.
Holding the three parties responsible for it, he said, “These parties have collectively looted Punjab for decades, hollowing out its institutions and forcing generations of youth to look abroad for opportunities.”
The CM for long has been claiming that reverse migration is being witnessed in Punjab during the AAP government’s tenure, with “the youth returning from abroad to join government jobs in the state”.
Again highlighting the issue, he said, “The previous governments ignored this challenge and ruined the system, forcing young people to look outside the country. It is a matter of pride that our government has provided regular jobs to more than 63,000 youth purely on the basis of merit.”
It was the second day of CM’s visit to Amritsar district, where he also addressed a big gathering at Majitha on Sunday and laid the foundation of the link roads project.
While addressing the gathering at Ajnala, the chief minister said the foundation stone of a co-educational college had been laid in Bikraur, a village located along the international border. The new college, which will be named after the revered scholar Baba Ghamchuk Ji, represented the AAP government’s resolve to rebuild “Rangla Punjab” through education, opportunity and public participation, he said.
“This college will ensure that youth from the border area can pursue higher education close to their homes. An amount of ₹15 crore will be spent on constructing this institution over 15 acres of land,” he said, expressing gratitude to the Bikraur village panchayat and residents for donating land for the project.
The chief minister said youth from around 50 nearby villages will benefit from the college, with over 2,000 students expected to enrol in the coming years. “The institution will offer courses in arts, science, commerce, computer science, artificial intelligence and digital skills, ensuring modern and quality education for students in the border belt,” he said, expressing confidence that the college would play a transformative role in shaping the future of youth, especially girls, from the region.
He also announced that students belonging to the village that donated land for the college will be provided free education in the upcoming institution.
Speaking on the concerns of border residents, Mann stated that the Punjab government was making every effort for their welfare. He said in a major relief for farmers in Punjab’s border belt, the central government had given in-principle approval to shift the border fence closer to the international boundary.
“This will allow unhindered cultivation of thousands of acres of farmland that currently lies beyond the fencing. Farmers were earlier forced to cross the fence under BSF escort to access their own fields along the 532 km India–Pakistan border. After persistent efforts, this long-pending issue has finally seen progress,” he said.
Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said, “The establishment of the Government Degree and Vocational Training College at Bikraur stands as a decisive and far-sighted intervention by the AAP government to correct decades of neglect in the Ajnala border belt, where students were forced to travel nearly 40 kilometres to Amritsar for higher education, often at the cost of dropping out, especially girls and first-generation learners.”
Education minister Harjot Singh Bains and AAP Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia also addressed the gathering.
AAP govt event in Majitha a cheap publicity stunt: Ganieve
Senior SAD leader and Majitha MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia on Monday termed the Sunday event organised by the AAP-led state government in the bastion of the Majithia family as “cheap publicity stunts” and stated that the CM held the rally at government expenditure to run down the elected representative of the SAD.
A day after the CM targeted her jailed husband and three-time MLA Bikram Singh Majithia during the Majitha rally, she said, “It is shocking that government funds were spent on a rally held to announce the patch work of rural link roads. The AAP government has done nothing for this constituency in the last four years and is now announcing that it will do patch work of rural roads at the fag-end of its tenure. This is a mockery and amounts to betraying the promise of all round development made to the people of this constituency.”
Ganieve said in direct contrast, the Majitha constituency witnessed record development during the SAD tenure with upgrade of the power grid and creation of new sub-stations in the constituency. “The constituency also saw construction of a new bus stand, new link roads and bridges, establishment of Khalsa College at Chawinad Devi, establishment of 100 water tanks in villages, four laning of the Amritsar-Majitha road, creation of new Mandi sheds and gyms in all villages.”
The legislator also condemned the AAP government for “arresting farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher” on the eve of the chief minister’s visit to the town.
www.hindustantimes.com
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