HATRED CANNOT BE SOWN ON PUNJAB’S SOIL: BHAGWANT MANN

Vikram Ditya Sharma/Ferozepur,

 Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday warned those allegedly conspiring against the state, saying hatred could never take root on Punjab’s soil, while highlighting the sacrifices made by Punjabis during the freedom struggle and Partition.

Addressing the state-level Independence Day function in Ferozepur, Mann said more than 10 lakh people from Punjab lost their lives during Partition and the sacrifices made by Punjabis would be remembered for generations.

Calling Ferozepur the “Land of Martyrs”, Mann said the city’s name was written in golden letters in India’s freedom struggle and recalled the martyrs of the Battle of Saragarhi.

Listing his government’s achievements, Mann said over 74 lakh registrations had been made under the “Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana”, with more than 65 lakh women receiving financial assistance involving over Rs 2,274 crore.

He said Punjab now had more than 1,100 Aam Aadmi Clinics and claimed the state had risen from 27th to first position nationally in primary education. The number of government school students clearing NEET had increased from 80 in 2021 to 882 this year, he said.

Mann also said canal water utilisation had increased from 22 per cent to 88 per cent, while 56,394 FIRs had been registered and over 75,000 drug smugglers arrested under the government’s anti-drug campaign.

He said more than 25,000 farm machines would be provided to promote agriculture and claimed stubble-burning cases had declined by 53 per cent.

Before the function, Mann visited the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala and paid floral tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Batukeshwar Dutt and Punjab Mata Vidyavati.