Delhi model of development to be adopted: Punjab Health Minister
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jan, 2023 11:39 AM
Chandigarh, Jan 10 (IANS) Punjab's new Health Minister Balbir Singh on Tuesday said the Delhi model of development has been popularised across the globe and the similar model will be adopted in Punjab too.
Assuming the charge of Health and Family Welfare Minister here, Balbir Singh, the legislator from Patiala (Rural) who won the 2022 Assembly election by a whopping margin of over 50,000 votes, told the media that health and education are the areas of core concern of the government.
"Therefore, it will be my priority the health programmes should be implemented at the grassroots to provide quality primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities."
The health sector will be taken to greater heights with the cooperation of the government and the private sector, he added.
Renowned eye surgeon and philanthropist, Balbir Singh, has been providing low-cost eye care to farmers and the poor masses for four decades. As a doctor, he treated lakhs of patients at a low cost and donated the gift of vision to over 30,000 blind patients, besides distributing free medicines to tens of thousands of patients.
Patients from the entire northern region, especially from Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, throng to Patiala for treatment by Balbir Singh.
The recipient of many awards from state governments across the country, Balbir Singh organised a free medicines and medical service langar at Delhi borders during the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws that were later scrapped.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.
