Cabinet for joint Parliament session to mark occasion

ALSO DECIDES TO TAKE UP WITH THE FOREIGN MINISTRY THE ISSUE OF ALLOWING DEVOTEES VISITING KARTARPUR WITHOUT ENTRY FEE, FACILITATION CHARGES

SULTANPURLODHI: Holding its firstever meeting outside Chandigarh, the Punjab cabinet, chaired by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, on Tuesday decided to recommend to the Union government to convene a special joint session of Parliament to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

The state cabinet also resolved to convene a special session of the assembly next month to commemorate the historic occasion. The council of ministers, in its resolution, also decided to invite the President Ram Nath Kovind and various Sikh personalities to address the planned special session of the assembly.

The cabinet also resolved to take up with the external affairs minister the matter of allowing visa-free entry to the devotees intending to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur without any entry fee, facilitation charges or service charges. This will help pilgrims in “khula darshan”, enabling them to pay obeisance without any restriction in accordance with the prayer of Sikh Sangat.

The CM assured to personally call the external affairs minister and urge him to prevail upon his Pakistan counterpart to ensure entry of pilgrims to its territory without any fee.

The CM decided to convene the next meeting of his cabinet at Sultanpur Lodhi on October 10 to review the further progress of the ongoing infrastructural and development projects in the historic city. Besides, a special meeting will be held at Dera Baba Nanak before September 30 to review the status of various development projects being executed in the area.

He also decided to convene the next meeting of his cabinet at Sultanpur Lodhi on October 10 to review the further progress of the ongoing infrastructure and development projects in the historic city. On request of local MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, the cabinet okayed a proposal to upgrade the local civil hospital to a super-specialty institution, and also sanctioned ₹1.24 crore for the construction of a 1km road from Gurdwara Sant Ghat to connect with the Kapurthalasultanpur Lodhi road.

The special meeting of the cabinet, convened to review the progress of various ongoing projects in the historic city of Sultanpur Lodhi, also cleared a proposal for declaring Sultanpur Lodhi-kapurthala-kartarpurbeas-batala (including Batala byepass)-dera Baba Nanak as “Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Marg”. It was decided to upgrade the 136.14-km road, and widen it to 10 meters at a cost of ₹96.15 crore.

The CM directed the executing agencies to complete all the development works within the stipulated time frame and directed the Kapurthala deputy commissioner to regularly hold meetings of officials to meet the deadline. CM also asked the state chief secretary and the DGP to take stock of the ongoing development and traffic management projects on regular basis.

He ordered Punjab State Power Corporation Limited chairman and secretary, water supply and sanitation, to find out ways and means for exempting the free langars from electricity and water charges. Amarinder also asked the cultural affairs minister to set up a committee for honouring 550 Sikhs/’nanak Naam Leva’ personalities on the occasion.