Preparing for 550th Gurpurab at Sultanpur Lodhi: Navtej Cheema

logo: My MLA My Agenda

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 21

Having won from the holy town of Sultanpur Lodhi for the second consecutive time, Congress MLA Navtej Cheema says the biggest task before him in the present tenure will be holding the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

“I find myself extremely lucky to have got this opportunity to organise and oversee the Gurpurb celebrations. The celebrations are scheduled for 2019 and the government has already issued us letters to begin to make the preparations. Large-scale preparations are required for this, for which we need to start right away. These include an overhaul of the bus stand, railway station and even the government guest houses in the town as dignitaries and devotees from across the world would be converging here,” said Cheema.

The MLA said while the funding for improving the public facilities would be borne by the state government, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) too would be roped in for the renovation at the historical gurdwaras in the town.

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‘Will get polytechnic restarted’

Cheema said he has several issues on the agenda, including the restarting of a polytechnic of IK Gujral Punjab Technical University on 22 acres of land. “A sprawling campus had come here at a cost of Rs 25 crore just 3 km from the town in Jabbowal village. The space and construction is even ideal for bringing an IIIT here. Classes too had started here a few years ago, but later got wound up as a local group did not want the institute to flourish as it had begun attracting more students. Now, I will get in touch with the IKGPTU authorities again to get it restarted,” he said outlining his plan.

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‘Will get work on Majha-Doaba bridge started’

The Congress MLA said that even as the Badal government had laid foundation stones for starting a new bridge connecting Majha and Doaba on the Mussowal road via Patti, the work had not begun. “There are twin stones laid at Chak Patti village on our side and Dharka village on the Majha side. If this bridge work is done, it will be a big boon to the area, as otherwise people have to commute via Goindwal or Makhu to cross the Beas and reach Majha.

The issue of the removal of the platoon bridges in monsoons and the availability of boats too remains a problem in this remote constituency falling along the mighty river. “Even getting staff in government hospitals and schools is an issue that has to be worked on,” said Cheema.

He added, “Yesterday, I had held a meeting with officials of the sub-division regarding the elimination of drugs. Even the staff of other departments, including the PSPCL, PWD etc, have been called to ensure that there is no corruption in the offices. I have also told the police officials that there should be no false FIRs registered in the constituency out of sheer vendetta.”