Chandigarh, January 1 - Punjab Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh on Friday greeted the people on New Year, with hopes andprayers of early resolution of the problems of the peacefully protestingfarmers, and emphasis on the importance of industry and communications for thestate’s progress and employment generation for children.
While hoping for freedom from the pandemic, he also appealedto all Punjabis to continue to exercise caution and restraint amid the outbreakof a new more contagious strain of Covid in many parts of the world.
Congratulating the farmers for continuing to exercise theirdemocratic and Constitutional right to protest in a peaceful manner, the ChiefMinister said they had won the hearts of the people worldwide with theirbehaviour. Not a single instance of rioting or violence was resorted to by theagitating farmers earlier during their protest in Punjab, and now at the Delhiborders, he pointed out.
In his live message, the Chief Minister lauded the courageof Punjabis, who had not only fought the pandemic bravely but also continued todeliver excellent performance across agriculture, industry and trade and otherfields despite the problems faced during the year gone by. He made particularmention of all the frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics,police etc, who had bravely fought through the pandemic to protect the peopleof Punjab. He, however, warned that Covid had not yet ended and urged thepeople to continue to take care of themselves and their families.
In a tough year, marked by the Covid crisis since March 22,2020 followed by the prolonged farmers’ fight for justice, the state hadwitnessed record production of wheat and rice, said Captain Amarinder. In fact,Punjabis had continued to do their duties unwaveringly, with full commitmentand courage, on all fronts even in these trying conditions, he said. He alsocited the examples of trade and industry, which had revived successfully due tothe hard work of Punjabis after facing total shutdown for several months. Allthe 240000 industrial units in Ludhiana are now open, he noted, adding thateven at present, industries worth Rs 650000-Rs 70000 crore were being set up inPunjab.
Stressing that “the world is recognising the accomplishmentsof Punjab”, the Chief Minister said this underlined the appreciation forPunjabis’ bravery, the state’s success in controlling Covid and the fact thatit was free of any law and order problem. “It is important to ensure thatinvestment and industry keeps coming into the state for the generation ofemployment for our children so that they do not go out of Punjab for jobs,” headded.
Captain Amarinder noted that in the modern electronic age,where communication was critical to progress and speed was of essence, Punjabcould not afford to lag behind and needed to move forward with aggression, at afast pace.
Expressing the hope that 2021 will see a new era of progressbeing ushered into the state, with the problems of the farmers being quicklysolved, the Chief Minister asserted that his government would do everything inits power to push development and resolve any other issues facing the state.
He said he felt blessed to be an important part of theauspicious occasions of the historic Prakash Parvs of various Sikh Gurus forthe second time in his life. In his previous term as chief minister, he had ledthe state’s celebration of…… And in this term, aater the momentous celebrations of the 550th Prakash Parv of Sri GuruNanak Dev ji, he was happy to be steering the glorious celebrations of the 400thbirth anniversary of Hind ki Chadar, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur ji, who had given uphis life for Kashmiri Pandits, thus underlining the timelessness of Hindu-Sikhunity. This unity has always been there and shall always remain, he said.
Wishing all citizens and their families good health andhappiness, the Chief Minister said with the end of what was clearly one of theworst years of his life, he hoped for `Chardi Kalan’ for all, with the desiresof every Punjabi being fulfilled in 2021.