Dadi-Poti Park opens in Model Town

Gurdeep Singh Mann

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 12

Union Minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today inaugurated the Dadi-Poti Park, built at a cost of Rs 1.10 crore in Model Town Phase-III. The minister arrived two-and-a-half-hour late at the venue.She also announced to take up the issue of drought-affected farmers with the Union Government. “Our farmers do not fall in the category of drought-hit and I will write to Union Government for a change in the definition of the drought-hit,” she said.

On the demand of an airport in the city and the availability of a Shatabdi train to Delhi, the minister assured to do the needful.

“We have plans to start at least the service of small aircrafts from Bathinda and the Shatabdi is likely to be flagged off in the coming days,” she said.

On the stray cattle problem, she said the work on it had started of 3,000 stray cattle, around 2,000 would be shifted to a cattle pound in Jassi Baghwali village.

Over the rising number of road accidents, the Union Minister said the traffic wing of the Bathinda Police had been directed to penalise the violators.

Harsimrat said that the mega food park in Fazilka’s Dabwala Kalan village would be the state’s first and country’s fourth mega food park, which will be inaugurated tomorrow. Spread in around 55 acres, it has been constructed at a cost of Rs 136 crore. She added that soon a food processing training institute would be opened in Bathinda.

She added that the compensation to the 1984 riot victims will be given soon. On the issue of the shortage of urea, she said there was no such shortage in the state.

Expressing concern over the immolation bid by a woman in front of the CM’s residence in Chandigarh, she said the root cause of the problem would be found.

Earlier, she laid the foundation stone of Rs 2.25 crore water works project in the police colony at Lal Singh Basti and distributed 70 sewing machines and 17 tricycles besides saplings among people at Model Town Phase-1.

Meanwhile, Navninder Kaur, wife of a deceased lawyer, Darshan Singh, too tried to meet the minister against the alleged highhandedness of the police and officials of Punjab and Sind Bank officials. “The bank granted a loan to a person on non-existent land of guarantor no. 1 but announced auction of our land in connivance with senior police officers. Despite the suicide committed by my husband, who named two accused in his suicide letter, the police gave a clean chit to them,” she said.

Harsimrat directed SSP Indermohan to look into the complaint of Navninder.

DIG Amar Chahal, Deputy Commissioner Dr Basant Garg, ADC (D) Sonali Giri, Chief Administrator of Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) Varinder Sharma, Municipal Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh, former Mayor Baljeet Beerbehman, SGPC member Sukhdev Bahia and district press secretary Om Parkash were present on the occasion.