‘March 23 to be observed as Youth Empowerment Day’
SBS NAGAR : Calling Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh as the greatest youth icon across the world, local bodies and tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday announced to observe March 23, martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev as Youth Empowerment Day in Punjab.
Sidhu, who was here in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh on Friday to review the ongoing expansion project of the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Museum asked the officers concerned to complete the project by February 15, as the state government wants to dedicate the museum to great martyrs on March 23.
“The grand function will be organised on the martyrs’ day in which chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh, besides inaugurating the museum, will honour some selected youths, contributing for the welfare of society, with ‘Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Award’,” he said.
Sidhu said that he will write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also meet him to urge him to declare March 23 as Youth Empowerment Day at the national level.
To ensure timely completion of the museum, on which work remained stalled for over eight years due to lack of funds, Navjot Singh Sidhu handed over a cheque for ₹2 crore, sent by the chief minister to the local MLA Angad Saini.
“In addition to ₹2 crore from the state government, I have sought ₹8 crore from the central government to make the museum state-of-art. I want an overall revamp at this kind of museum which motivates our youth,” Navjot Singh Sidhu said, while announcing ₹5 lakh from his pocket to construct toilets and a cafeteria at Bhagat Singh’s home which is just adjacent to the museum.
MARTY’RS JAIL DIARY TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN SCHOOLS
Announcing a ₹25-lakh grant from his department for the mission, Sidhu said that Bhagat Singh’s nephew Abhay Singh Sandhu will make available the jail diary written by Bhagat Singh free of cost and the diary will be distributed among students of all schools of the state.
The diary written by Bhagat Singh in jail between September 1929 and March 1931. It has notes, poems and jottings penned down by the martyr.
‘ENTERTAINMENT TAX IS ILLEGAL’
Clarifying that the state government has not yet implemented entertainment tax, Sidhu said that cable operators, who are fleecing consumers on the pretext of entertainment tax will be stopped and criminal proceedings will be started against them.
Asked about his stand on the suspension of Mohali mayor Kulwant Singh, he said that the mayor was only served showcause notice asking that why he should not be removed as a councillor for causing loss to the state exchequer.
OFFICERS TOLD TO COMPLETE BHAGAT SINGH MUSEUM BY FEB 15 AS THE GOVT WANTS TO DEDICATE THE MUSEUM TO GREAT MARTYRS ON MARCH 23