Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit was on Tuesday sworn in as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh. He has been given this as an additional charge as incumbent V.P. Singh Badnore has completed his term.
Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ravi Shanker Jha administered the oath of office to Purohit at Punjab Raj Bhavan here.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present on the occasion.
Purohit took the oath in English.
Earlier in the day, he arrived at the Punjab Raj Bhavan and was given a guard of honour by a Punjab Armed Police contingent.
After paying floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Central Hall of Parliament, Defence Minister Singh tweeted, "Paid tributes to former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi ji on his birth anniversary at Parliament House today."
Microsoft and MAQ Software will set up their units in Noida whereas PepsiCo has started construction of its factory in Mathura, said an Industrial Department official.
Stressing that Rajiv Gandhi was a close friend, Amarinder Singh recalled that he always used ask when the day will come when people will have their own houses to live and India would be free from poverty. He, therefore, thought it apt to launch this scheme on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, said the Chief Minister, adding that the Congress had fighting for the people for the last 130 years.
Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid management in the national capital, stated that no one can deny that Delhi grappled with an oxygen shortage during the peak of the second wave of the Covid pandemic (April-May) and several people died due to oxygen shortage.
Speaking at the meeting, Sonia Gandhi said, "Monsoon session of Parliament was a complete washout entirely due to the government's obstinate and arrogant unwillingness to discuss and debate urgent issues of public importance."
The Chief Secretary said the 300-bed state of the art hospital will act as a tertiary care centre for the entire northern region, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.