Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani on Monday laid the foundation stone of the new campus of Bathinda Central University here. She announced that the new campus of the central varsity would be ready within 18 months.
On the occasion the Minister exhorted Punjab to take lead in introducing farm techniques, water, rural and food processing management courses at the Indian Institute of Management set up in Amritsar.
Ms Irani also mooted a proposal for a possible tie-up between the Union HRD Ministry and Food Processing Ministry chalking out a roadmap for expansion of food processing industry in the state by imparting education to the students.
The university would act as a catalyst of education in the entire region as world renowned experts from across the globe would be roped in to deliver lectures to the students, she said.
The Union Minister hoped that this university would be instrumental in checking the ‘brain drain’ from the region by opening new vistas of employment in education sector for the students.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal envisioned the state as a hub of ‘Education and Healthcare services’.
Striking an emotional chord with the farmers of the state, he assured the cotton cultivators that the state government would soon compensate them for the heavy losses incurred by them due to whitefly attack on their crop.
Taking a dig at opposition parties for “misleading the people”, the Chief Minister said there was not even a single achievement to the credit of Congress Party in long spell of its rule.
He alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party was merely indulging in false propaganda against the state government whereas it has hardly done anything tangible for the welfare of the people in Punjab.
Terming the day as ‘historic’ for Malwa region and especially Bathinda, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said a novel beginning has been made in the field of education.
He said that on completion, the university would impart quality education to 18,000 students who would be given every possible facility.
A budget of Rs 2,000 crore has been earmarked for this purpose, he said adding that one lakh government jobs would soon be advertised in the state. - PTI
