NRIs’ CLAIMS: GOVT EXPOSED, SAYS MANPREET
Wednesday, 08/04/2015
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CHANDIGARH: People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Singh Badal on Tuesday said the hollow slogan of the Akali government of taking the state to a higher orbit of development stood exposed with its failure to release committed funds for the works in villages adopted by non-resident Indians (NRIs).
He referred to the announcement by former federal minister of Canada Herb Dhaliwal and his associate Dr Gurdev Singh Gill, carrying out development works in a number of villages, to snap ties with the government due to bureaucratic harassment and non-release of funds committed by it.
Gill and Dhaliwal are a part of the Indo-Canadian Friendship Society and the Indo Canadian Village Improvement Trust which is carrying out development works in Punjab villages. Manpreet also referred to the pioneering work undertaken by NRIs in Kharoudi village in Hoshiarpur, which was visited by then President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2003.
“It is discouraging to know that that the development works in some villages are stuck as the Punjab government has failed to release its contribution. Another issue raised by NRIs is the bureaucratic hurdles. The non-cooperative attitude of the government has forced them to work independently,” said Manpreet.
