Punjab CM seeks direct flights between London, Chandigarh
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Apr, 2022 10:02 AM
Chandigarh, April 5 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday asked British Deputy High Commissioner Caroline Rowett to take up the start of direct flights to and fro between London and Chandigarh with the British High Commissioner on priority.
Rowett, who paid a courtesy call at the Chief Minister at his official residence here, said she would certainly take up this matter to facilitate the Punjabi diaspora settled in Britain, besides people residing in neighbouring states to enable them to have a seamless journey to Punjab.
She also congratulated Mann for securing a massive mandate for the formation of the state government under his stewardship.
Emphasising the need of immediate direct air link between Chandigarh and London, Mann apprised Rowett that the Chandigarh International Airport caters to the growing demand of the people of neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chandigarh.
Apprising the Chief Minister about the latest technologies to combat the menace of straw burning and bio-waste management, Rowett evinced keen interest for technology transfer in these fields as the UK has the time-tested and the most advanced expertise to effectively handle them.
She also apprised Mann that the UK has certain advanced postgraduate courses which could be run in collaboration with some local universities and prestigious institutions of higher education to enable the state youth to be gainfully employed across the globe.
Likewise, she also expressed her desire to tie up with the state sports university to start courses on a mutual basis to equip students from both the sides with the advanced courses in sports to promote sports education in sports sciences, sport technology, sports management and sports coaching by adopting best international practices.
Assuring support and cooperation to the visiting delegation, Mann said the state would welcome these initiatives to ensure holistic development of Punjab in a meaningful manner.
Few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the flood situation in the state, the latter wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, describing the flood as a ‘man made one', alleging that the "unprecedented release of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dams Panchet, Maithon and Tenughat" is responsible for the situation.
The incident took place on Sunday night and the victim's family members have alleged that the accused stuffed cloth into the girl's mouth and raped her.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday rode a bicycle to the parliament in protest of rise in fuel prices particularly petrol which has crossed Rs 100 per litre mark in various parts of the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that opposition parties are insulting parliament and the constitution by disrupting it. Prime Minister Modi was speaking at BJP's parliamentary party meeting.
