Accord nat’l martyr status to Sarabha: Bittu

Mahesh Sharma
Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 16

The state government has decided to develop ancestral village of Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha as a model village. Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister about the decision on the concluding session of the state-level function held to pay tributes to the martyr on Friday.

Though a draft plan to develop historic localities, including Sarabha had already been declared by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the Minister said that execution would commence within a couple of months.

While paying tributes to Sarabha and his contemporaries, Ashu said, “The Punjab government is committed to implement the ideologies of martyrs so that the society takes a cue from it. Rs 1-crore grant was announced by Chief Minister during the Independence Day celebrations at Ludhiana.”

Ashu announced another grant of Rs 7 lakh for development works at the village and its school.

Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu reiterated his stand to accord national martyr status to Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha.

Bittu said, “Though I have already raised the issue in the parliament about a year ago, we are yet to receive positive response from the Central Government. I will not rest till the demand is accepted.”

Bittu also announced additional grant of Rs 10 lakh for the development of Sarabha village from his discretionary funds.

Both Ashu and Bittu paid floral tributes to Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha and also visited his ancestral house. They also attended the ongoing sports festival in the village.

Khanna Senior Superintendent of Police Dhruv Dahiya, district Congress Committee (rural) president Gurdev Singh Lapran, and Ludhiana West SDM Damanjit Singh Mann were also present on the occasion.