Delhi model of development to be adopted: Punjab Health Minister
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jan, 2023 11:39 AM
Chandigarh, Jan 10 (IANS) Punjab's new Health Minister Balbir Singh on Tuesday said the Delhi model of development has been popularised across the globe and the similar model will be adopted in Punjab too.
Assuming the charge of Health and Family Welfare Minister here, Balbir Singh, the legislator from Patiala (Rural) who won the 2022 Assembly election by a whopping margin of over 50,000 votes, told the media that health and education are the areas of core concern of the government.
"Therefore, it will be my priority the health programmes should be implemented at the grassroots to provide quality primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities."
The health sector will be taken to greater heights with the cooperation of the government and the private sector, he added.
Renowned eye surgeon and philanthropist, Balbir Singh, has been providing low-cost eye care to farmers and the poor masses for four decades. As a doctor, he treated lakhs of patients at a low cost and donated the gift of vision to over 30,000 blind patients, besides distributing free medicines to tens of thousands of patients.
Patients from the entire northern region, especially from Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, throng to Patiala for treatment by Balbir Singh.
The recipient of many awards from state governments across the country, Balbir Singh organised a free medicines and medical service langar at Delhi borders during the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws that were later scrapped.
Addressing members of industrial associations, who called on Channi here in the presence of Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra, he said that most of their demands have already been met as promised by him during the Punjab Investors' Summit.
A Rajya Sabha member and close aide of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her inception in Punjab affairs has caused suspicion among the leaders in Punjab who were fighting a turf war. Soni could be reckoned to be the choice of the high command if Congress returns to power as a consensus candidate.
The new limit will apply to both Indian passport holders as well as persons of Indian origin carrying the Overseas Citizen of India card travelling to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province through Kartarpur corridor.
The development comes after the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of farmer bodies, suspended the agitation after the Union government repealed the three farm laws and conceded its other demands. Subsequently the farmers started vacating the Delhi borders where they have been stationed for more than a year.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday gave a clarion call for the establishment of a truly federal structure in the country, with genuine cultural, political and economic autonomy to states. It also announced to implement a Rs 50,000 per acre crop insurance scheme, besides commitment to revive the pre-2004 pension scheme for government employees.
In order to provide constructed houses to the economically weaker section (EWS) across the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday approved invitation of applications for allotment of 25,000 houses to be constructed by urban development authorities. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Charanjit Channi here.
