MLAS must not make announcements on school upgrade, Singla tells House
All of us in our party have taken a conscious decision that we would not make announcements of upgrade of schools, as it has a bearing on government functioning. VIJAY INDER SINGLA, education minister
CHANDIGARH: Punjab education minister Vijay Inder Singla said on Friday that government announcements on upgrade of schools had a bearing on government functioning, as mostly politicians made these without any consideration of the cost of the upgrade of infrastructure.
Replying to a question by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Aman Arora during the Question Hour in the assembly, Singla said, “All of us in our party have taken a conscious decision that we would not make announcements of upgrade of schools, as it has a bearing on government functioning.” Singla went on to caution MLAS, particularly from the opposition parties of the AAP and the SAD-BJP combine, not to indulge in such kind of statements.
Arora had asked the minister to clarify on the estimated cost of the new building of Longowal Senior Secondary School for Girls in Sunam and whether the entire fund had been released to the builder or not. Singla said a payment of ₹1.25 crore had been made to the contractor. Arora, however, objected to this, claiming that the cheque had bounced.
Earlier, health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu agreed to post a radiologist in the government hospital of Tapa town in response to a question from Pirmal Singh Dhaula Sidhu. The minister said there were plans to upgrade the hospital to a trauma centre.
In a supplementary question, Qadian MLA Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa said that a primary health centre in his constituency had been downgraded to a dispensary and it had only one doctor. “The land for health centre was given by my uncle. My relatives question me on why has the government downgraded the facilities,” added Bajwa. Sujanpur MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu demanded a water pumping system in Kui and Panjala village in Dhar Kalan blocks.
To this, water supply and sanitation minister assured Babbu that the government would provide canal water in Sujanpur. Raising a supplementary question, leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema told the House that the Dhuri-mulewal road, repaired recently, had developed a crack. Meanwhile, a supplementary question by Arora about a government notification that permitted the hunting and consumption of Roz (Boselaphus tragocamelus) was lost in the din.