Galwan heroes figure in obituary references

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Friday paid tributes to 28 eminent personalities, including freedom fighters, soldiers who laid down their lives in Galwan valley, political personalities besides unsung Covid warriors, who had passed away since the last session of the Assembly.

On the inaugural sitting of one-day session, the House led by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh paid respects to ex-mp Gurdas Singh Badal (father of Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal), Harminder Kaur (Manpreet’s mother), EX-MLA Chatin Singh Samao, ex-state minister Hari Singh Zira and justice Satpal Bangar (retd).

The House also paid tributes to legendary hockey Olympian Balbir Singh Senior and Hazoori Ragi Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa; along with Naib Subedar Mandeep Singh, Naib Subedar Satnam Singh, Naik Rajesh Kumar, Naik Rajwinder Singh, Naik Salim Khan, Naik Gurcharan Singh, Sepoy Gurbinder Singh, Sepoy Lakhvir Singh and Sepoy Gurtej Singh, who laid down their lives in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.

The House also remembered freedom fighters Sucha Singh, Piara Singh, Takht Singh, Ajit Singh, Variam Singh, Santokh Singh and Dalip Singh. The Vidhan Sabha paid tributes to artist Satish Gujral and engineer Jaswant Singh Gill.

The House also remembered religious leader Acharya Mahapragya and Surinder Dogra (mother of MLA Arun Dogra).

The House also paid homage to Covid victims who had fallen prey to the pandemic.

On the request of health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, names of the frontline Covid warriors who had sacrificed their lives combating the pandemic were also added in the list.

On the request of Aam Aadmi Party legislator Kultar Singh Sandhwan, the name of litterateur Baldev Singh was also added to the obituary list.

A two-minute silence was observed in memory of the departed souls.

After the obituary references, the chief minister passed a resolution for conveying the condolences of the House to their respective families. The resolution was passed by voice vote.