Those at helm decorated their palaces at cost of a dilapidated Patiala: Punjab CM
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Jan, 2023 11:19 AM
Patiala, Jan 20 (IANS) Despite being a power centre, Patiala lagged behind in process of development due to "vested interests" and "greed" of the successive rulers, who "decorated their own palaces at the cost of dilapidation of the city", Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said.
The Chief Minister, while interacting with the media after reviewing the progress of development projects worth Rs 167 crore in the city, said it is ironic that the Maharajas in power were more concerned about their own development rather than that of the city.
He said though Patiala was known as 'City of Gardens' but due to apathy of those in power, the city lost its shine in the last few years.
Mann bemoaned that the rulers of Punjab, who hailed from Patiala, remained callous about the development of the city.
He said the work on the majority of these projects, including construction of new bus stand, roads, drain channelisation and beautification project, construction of digital library at Musafir Memorial Central state library and others, have been hanging in fire since long.
However, he said that his government, which is committed to the development and progress of Patiala, has put these projects on a fast-track mode.
The work on the state-of-the-art bus stand, which is being constructed to cope up with the futuristic needs, will be completed by April 1, he said.
The Chief Minister said 93 per cent work of the bus stand has already been completed. Once operational, 1,500 buses will ply from this bus stand and will facilitate the residents a lot.
He said the existing bus stand will be used as a city bus stand, adding a shuttle bus service will be introduced.
The Chief Minister said Rs 20 crore is being spent for extending round-the-clock canal water supply to the city, adding the work for channelising and beautification of model town drain will be completed by March 31.
He said the Rajindra Tank would be developed into a tourism spot for attracting the people from across the globe. Likewise, Mann said Rs 8.26 crore is being spent on digitalisation of the Musafir Memorial Central State Library.
Denying bail to rape accused Lingayat seer of the Chitradurga Murugha Mutt, a court in Karnataka's Chitradurga district extended the Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru's judicial custody till October 10.
The Chief Minister said the BJP is using its moneybags to cause an irreparable loss to democracy. He said in the past, the Congress has done the same and now the saffron party is following its footsteps.
According to the police, the couple had a love marriage three years ago. But of late, they had been frequently quarreling over domestic issues, particularly after Zara declined to wear a 'burqa' while going out in the neighbourhood.
Meeting a high-level delegation from Saskatchewan which called on him at his residence here, he advocated strong and cordial ties between Punjab and the Canadian province, noting that Punjabis have been playing a vanguard role in the social and economic progress of Canada.
A Vigilance Bureau spokesman said during the ongoing investigation in the alleged corruption for cutting khair trees, issuance of NOCs for commercial establishments, purchase of tree guards worth crores of rupees, etc, circumstantial evidences surfaced on record against Kumar, on the basis of which he was named accused.
The accused was allowed treatment at the Meggaon Hospital of Shivamogga considering his heart ailment on Wednesday. Murugha Sharanaru was arrested following the complaint by two minor girls, who accused him of sexually exploiting them and threatening them.
