Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday asked the Cultural Affairs Department to complete all the ongoing various cultural and heritage projects in the state within the stipulated timeline.
Badal, presiding over a meeting to review progress of such heritage projects, which were in different stages of completion, directed the cultural affairs principal secretary to hold meetings regularly with the different executing agencies to ensure their completion expeditiously. It was informed in the meeting that the work on the prestigious Guru Ravi Dass Memorial at Khuralgarh in Hoshiarpur district and Bhai Jiwan Singh (Bhai Jaita ji) Memorial at Sri Anandpur Sahib would begin soon.
likewise, Badal also asked the department to further speed up the work for the early completion of second phase of Virasat-e-Khalsa at Sri Anandpur Sahib. He also monitored the progress of ongoing heritage project of Jang-e-Azadi at Kartarpur (Jalandhar) besides the War Memorial and Bhagwan Valmik Tirath Sthal at Amritsar.
Reviewing the position of the funds for the construction of these heritage projects, the CM directed the Finance Department to immediately release the funds to the tune of `70 crore earmarked as budgetary provision for the undertaking different cultural and heritage projects in the State. The CM was also apprised that out of total one-time contribution to tune of `90 crore, `41 crore has been deposited so far by the different State Government agencies.
He also asked the heads of these agencies besides the Excise and Taxation Department to immediately deposit their outstanding share of cultural cess amounting to `50 crore for the timely completion of these heritage projects.