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.
After the meeting, she said: "We discussed issues related to road and infrastructure projects, including transport, road connectivity and manufacturing units of electric buses. We have also discussed building some flyovers in Kolkata."
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday gave the go-ahead for putting a new Bill for this before the Cabinet, paving the way for its enactment in the next Assembly session.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Amarinder Singh said his government would be happy to work in conjunction with the Centre to ensure adherence to proper Covid-19 protocols, including testing and vaccination of pilgrims using the corridor.
A CBI spokesperson here said that the agency sleuths carried out searches at the premises of Eastern Coalfields Ltd General Manager Subhash Mukhopadhyay, retired General Manager Sushanta Banerjee, colliery agent H.C. Moitra, Manager, Security, Mukesh Kumar, and Inspector, Security, Rinku Behra.
Former Congress President and Sonia Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, was also present during the meeting. The meeting was held at Sonia Gandhi's residence at 10 Janpath here.
The Prime Minister conveyed his warm greetings to President Biden and Vice President Harris and his appreciation for the initiatives taken by President Biden including those related to the Quad, Covid-19 and climate change.
