Ludhiana, April 29 :
Ludhiana West Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Parupkar Singh Ghumman today asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress to stop practicing the politics of deceit and recognize the role of former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in securing the approval for the establishment of the Halwara international airport.
In a statement here, Parupkar Ghumman said it was shocking that both the AAP and Congress were going overboard in taking credit for the upcoming Halwara airport whose approval was secured by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). “The airport proposal was lying in cold storage in 2019 with no progress having been made for one year because the then Congress government was offering very less compensation for acquiring the land for the project from farmers. Following this, Mrs. Harsimrat Badal held meetings with state government officials twice to speed up the project, following which 161 acres of land was acquired for the project. Subsequently, Mrs. Badal again intervened to get the project approved by the central government. If not for this crucial approval, the project would not have come about till now”, he added.
The SAD government also castigated the AAP government for delaying the project. “The AAP government did not pay Rs 45 crore for development works for the airport, due to which it was delayed. Instead of taking credit for establishment of the airport, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should explain why the project was delayed.”
Mr Ghumman said the SAD alone had understood the need to cater to the needs of the business community of Ludhiana and make it easy for exporters and suppliers to reach the city“. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had earlier extended the runway of the Sahnewal airport, which was being used as a flying club, and initiated the start of flight services from the airport to facilitate businessmen. “Since the Sahnewal airport could not be upgraded due to technical issues, the Halwara airport was taken up for extension”, he added.
The SAD candidate said all development work in Ludhiana had come about during the SAD tenure in government. “From elevated roads to initiation of work on the Ludhiana – Chandigarh expressway to the start of the Ludhiana Smart City project, mechanized sweeping of roads, and augmentation of the city bus service—everything was done during the SAD tenure. The last eight years have witnessed Ludhiana sliding down at every level. Forget the creation of new infrastructure or development; even the present infrastructure is being allowed to go to seed. Even basic services are not being provided to the people”. He appealed to the people of the city to support the SAD to pave the way for the holistic development of Ludhiana during the next Akali government in 2027.
