City to have world-class infra: Lakshmi Puri

Neeraj Bagga

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 1

Former IFS officer Lakshmi Puri, wife of BJP candidate Hardeep Singh Puri, though, is a Maharashtrian, her Punjabi dressing and greeting style makes it hard for one to believe so. Dressed in Punjabi attire, she chants 'Sat Sri Akal' every time she meets someone during her campaigning to convince people to vote for her husband, who is in fray for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket. There's a wave in BJP's favour, she says.

She says that her husband, who has a global vision enriched by his posting in various countries, will develop the infrastructure of the holy city into that of the world class.

Lakshmi Puri joined the UN in 2002 and became Deputy Executive Secretor of 2011 UN Women and elevated to the UN’s second highest rank of assistant secretary. She resigned from her job in September 2017 after her husband was appointed minister in Narendra Modi-led Central Government.

About her Sikh way of life, she says that she has been following it for the past 45 years since her marriage. “Our Anand Karaj was solemnised as per Sikh tradition at a gurdwara.”

According to her, during the course of her campaigning, she found underprivileged, disadvantaged people, lack of basic facilities and unregulated living areas. She felt that these matters need to be addressed on priority. She takes feedback during the door-to-door contact programme. She says that people are disappointed with the state government.

"Scarcity of housing, poor access to loans and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious schemes for marginalised families haven't reached them. Even benefits given during the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime have also been withdrawn," she claims.

According to her, her husband has a vision for promoting gender quality, making women a part of the development whether in education, access to finance or any other field. “I have reached out to all sections of women and some men too during my mass contact programme," she adds.