Quipping on the probability of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh contesting 2014 lok Sabha elections from Bathinda segment, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday dared Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to ‘test waters’ from the seat.
Making it clear that the party was “least bothered” about which Congress candidate contest from Bathinda against local MP and his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal, the SAD patron asked the young Gandhi scion not to “shift responsibility on any local leader”.
Badal, interacting with the mediapersons during his Sangat Darshan programme of Sri Muktsar Sahib Assembly segment, said that the SAD-BJP alliance was fully prepared for giving a crushing defeat to the Congress in the coming General Elections.
Responding to Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa’s assertions regarding closure of over 18,000 industrial units under SAD-BJP regime in past seven years, Badal said that Bajwa was lying and “misleading the people by issuing such irrational statements whereas no such issue has ever cropped up before us”.
“The State Congress president is habitual of making such baseless claims but the people of the State would not get swayed away with his statements,”
said Badal.
Also brushing aside media reports regarding possible alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (longowal) headed by former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, Badal said that he was not aware of any such move.
In a big reprieve for the people residing in water-logged areas of the State, the Chief Minister announced that the State Government would commence an ambitious project to make Punjab a ‘Water logging free state’ within a fortnight.
Divulging details, he said that Rs 3,277 crore master plan has been prepared by the State Government to eliminate the menace of water logging, and “in the first phase of the project, proposal for tackling water logging in south western districts of Punjab, including Sri Mukstar Sahib, Faridkot, Fazilka and Ferozepur has been prepared, and Rs 453 crore would be spent in the coming years”.
Badal said that out of these Rs 453 crore, Rs 125 crore would be spent on cleaning of existing drains, construction of new drains, construction of mini bridges, water courses and others, for which the work would be initiated within the coming two weeks.
The new venue has a total of 2,35,000 sq. meters of area, out of which almost 75,000 sq. meters are fixed indoor exhibition centers of which over 60,000 sq. metres will be utilised for the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. An additional 18,000 sq. meters will be used for activities like driving simulators, motorcycle riding areas, electric and hybrid mobility city (including a driving experience) and a large vintage car display. An additional 32,000 sq. meters will be used for the likes of a VIP and media lounge, offices, food and beverage restaurants, and various entertainment acts.
SIAM expects a total of about 5.40 lakh people to visit the event. At the last expo in 2012, around 7 lakh people had visited the expo. It is expecting around one lakh footfalls per day on public days from February 7-11 at Greater Noida for the motor show.
The ticket prices for the general public have been kept the same as last time at Rs 200 and Rs 500.