Chandigarh: Mr. Vijay Inder Singla formally took charge of PWD and Information Technology (IT) Minister and assumed his office in the Room Number 30 at 5th Floor of Punjab Civil Secretariat here today in the presence of Mrs. Asha Kumari, Incharge Punjab Congress Affairs, Mr. Sunil Jakhar, Member Parliament and President Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister, Mr. Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Minister for Revenue, Rehabilitation and disaster Management and Water Resources, Mr. Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy Resources, Mr. Kuljit Singh Nagra, MLA, Mr. Angad Saini, MLA, and his family members including his mother, wife, daughter and son.
Interacting with Media on this occasion, Mr. Vijay Inder Singla thanked the Chief Minister Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh and entire leaderships and workers of Congress party for reposing faith in him. He said that Punjab Government under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh has been committed to fulfill all the promises made with the people of the state and the Government has already implemented the bold decisions in that direction. “I can say with full confidence that whenever party has given me any kind of responsibility I have tried to serve with full sincerity, dedication, honesty, and now too I will not leave any stone unturned to work for the welfare of the state”, he added.
My prime focus will be on ensuring transparency and quality of work through a credible team: Vijay Inder Singla
Revealing his plans as PWD and IT Minister, Mr. Singla said “My prime focus will be on bringing the transparency in the work and ensuring its quality. People with credible background will be given responsible positions for execution of works. A monitoring mechanism will be there to check the quality of the work being done by any organization or company to ensure the quality of the work besides ensuring that every penny allocated for that project is invested in a justified manner”.
Replying to a query regarding development projects, the PWD Minister said that a NABARD project of Rs. 300 Crore would be implemented for strengthening and upgradation of rural roads besides spending Rs 810 Cr. on the repair of link roads in next 2 years. He further added that 80 percent work on the 1345 KM long project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojna (PMGSY-II) has been completed and project for PMGSY-III would be submitted soon, whereas, World Bank funded new road upgradation project worth Rs. 2000 Cr. will be completed in the next 5 years.
Mr. Vijay Inder Singla gave clear signal to all those who have adopted corrupt practices in the past to mend their ways. “I will not tolerate any corruption in my departments. All with tainted past will have to mend their ways as I will not succumb to any pressure,” said Mr. Singla.
Later, he held a short briefing with the Secretary PWD Mr. Husan Lal.
It is worth mentioning here that Mr. Vijay Inder Singla is the son of Late Mr. Sant Ram Singla who was also Congress MP, a MLA and Chairman Punjab Mandi Board. He was famous for his generous work towards welfare of the people of Punjab. Mr. Vijay Inder Singla has won Sangrur constituency with a margin of 31000 votes and became member of Punjab Assembly 2017. In 2009, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Sangrur Lok Sabha by defeating Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa from Shiromani Akali Dal by a margin of more than 40000 votes. He is known for his generous work and dedication towards social work. He has been credited with being one of the best parliamentarians in the last UPA government. Vijay Inder Singla in his first term as MP is credited with bringing major development projects to the state including a 300-bed PGI Sangrur Hospital with an outlay of Rs 449 crore and an outreach centre of Tata Memorial Cancer Centre Membai. He also brought projects in the Sports field like Synthetic Athletic Track at Sangrur and SAI sports coaching centre at Barnala. Moreover, his efforts for construction of RoBs and RuBs, introduction of new trains from Sangrur to all religious places of the country, Shatabdi Express between New Delhi and Sangrur are highly appreciable. He undertook extensive rural development works from MPLAD fund in the fields of education, health, community development, sports and public utilities.
Mr. Vijay Inder Singla has also represented India at the 64th session of UN General Assembly in New York City in November 2013 and spoke on Palestine refugee issue. He was a Member of Indian Council of World Affairs, National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR), Institute & Governing Body of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (Chandigarh), Regional Direct Taxes Advisory Committee, Patiala (Punjab) and Chairman of Regional Consultative Committee on Food Corporation of India (Punjab, and has been pursuing the cause of stakeholders through these forums and bodies.
