2-pronged approach needed : Amarinder

Sunday, 10/07/2016

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Over 5,000 people meet Captain with their grievances, 2,600 petitions submitted

Drug menace, lack of industries and unemployment surface as key issues in Balachaur

Captain promises industrial belt in Kandi region

Balachaur (Nawanshahr): A two-prong approach to tackle the drug problem is the need of the hour. Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh said this at “Halke vich Captain” programme held here on Saturday. He said while the producers, suppliers and peddlers needed to be put behind the bars, the addicts need to be rehabilitated at de-addiction centres.

“Strangely, this government has done the reverse by putting the addicts behind the bars while letting the big fish (producers and suppliers) go scot free,” Capt said while adding that, “Putting the addicts and small time peddlers behinds the bars is no solution as they need treatment and not punishment”.

The PPCC president also called for a consensus between all political parties that would ensure consistency in the industrial and investment policy. He also announced that all those areas dominated by the Congress supporters, who were being discriminated against by the SAD-BJP government would get priority and preference during the Congress regime.

“First of all those responsible for producing and supplying the drugs will be put behind bars. There will be zero tolerance towards those people,” he asserted.

Another measure, he said, the state needed massive investment and industrialisation so that the youth get jobs. “When the youth do not have jobs they get distracted and easily fall prey to drugs,” he observed.

Referring to the reported move of Arvind Kejriwal to seek apology at Harmandar Sahib for hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs, Capt said instead of Kejriwal, Kanwar Sandhu, head of the manifesto committee who is himself a Sikh, should tender an apology.

Congress slogan

Balachaur: “Chahunda hai Punjab, Captain di Sarkaar” will be Congress’ slogan for the upcoming campaign of Capt Amarinder Singh. This was revealed here on Saturday by a member of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which was managing Congress’s campaign in Punjab, on the sidelines of Capt’s event here. The member claimed that, “This is not a slogan which was developed in a boardroom of I-PAC but it can be termed as the real voice of the people of Punjab as it we arrived at it after due consultations with the people of the state.”

He added that I-PAC conducted a survey in which people from different walks of life were asked to suggest as to what should be the slogan of the upcoming campaign of Capt.

“For this survey, we reached out to people across the length and breadth of Punjab and received hundreds of suggestions from them. From the slogans we received, we shortlisted a few and sent them out to people to vote as to which one was the best. And this was voted as the best,” said the member.