Punjab Technical Education Minister and senior Congress leader Charanjit Channi on Wednesday maintained that the ‘Dera culture’ emerged in the state because of present Sikh leadership that ignored the weaker sections. 

Blaming the contemporary Sikh organisations patronised by the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leadership for promotion of Dera culture in the state, Channi minced no words to say that the “blatantly ignored weaker and underprivileged sections of society drifted towards Deras”. 

Channi, interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of a function to mark job fair at CT institute, said that due to the “alienation” of the weaker and underprivileged sections of society, they moved towards Deras, which led to their strengthening in the state. 

“Akali dominated Sikh organisations miserably failed to practice the basic tenets of Sikhism including harmony, equality and brotherhood in right earnest, which further fortified the position of Deras in the State,” he said. 

Talking about technical education in the State, Channi said that to frame the curriculum of technical institutes as per the need of industry, the State Government has given nod to set up a Research and Design (R&D) centre at Maharaja Ranjit Singh State Technical University, Bathinda. 

He said that the Centre would restructure the syllabus of technical institutions as per the requirements of industry by taking in account all the factors at ground level. “This would help in providing a pool of skilled manpower to industry on one hand and opening new vistas of employment for the youth of state on the other,” he said. 

The Minister announced that the State Government would spend Rs 100 crore for the rejuvenation of the government ITIs and Vocational Institutes in Punjab. 

“The process of appointing the Vice-Chancellor for Punjab Technical University has already started and the University would get a new regular Vice-Chancellor very soon. likewise, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the University would also be appointed very soon,” he said. 

Earlier addressing the students, the Minister said that the job fair would provide golden opportunity to every youth of the state to get employed. “Under this ambitious drive, 50,000 youth would be provided jobs by 900 industrial giants, who were visiting the state during these fairs. Chief Minister would hand over appointment letters to these 50,000 youth on September 5,” he said.