Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today said Punjab has no dispute with Himachal Pradesh over water, liquor, or any other issue, as the two states have very cordial relations. Mann, along with his wife and other family members, paid obeisance at the Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur district.
“Punjab and Himachal are like brothers who live peacefully, and there were stray incidents of attacks on buses in Punjab and bikes in Himachal,” he said. “I also spoke with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, after which the situation is absolutely normal.”
“The fight against drugs has to be very persistent, with cooperation from every section,” he said. “In Punjab, panchayats have passed resolutions to rid their areas of drugs, so that the youth can be saved from falling prey to addiction.”
“It’s not easy, but one step is to curtail the drugs supply chain,” he said. “Along with this, we need to upgrade rehabilitation centres, identify hotspots.”
He said his government undertook a massive reshuffle and transferred officials who were allegedly involved in the drugs racket. Following this, heroin worth crores has been seized, and properties of those engaged in the illegal drug trade have been attached.
“Himachal was once known for sending youth to the Army from every family, but today we don’t have boys who want to join the armed forces,” he said. “Both states are known as lands of gurus and deities, so every possible effort must be made to eradicate the menace of drugs.”
Mann said he will hold a joint meeting with officials from Punjab and Himachal to push forward the pending ropeway between Anandpur Sahib and Naina Devi shrines.
“Nowadays, it hardly takes time to set up an aerial ropeway, as most components are ready to fix,” he said. “So we will sit across the table and work it out, so that pilgrims from the two states can use the ropeway for darshan at Anandpur Sahib and Naina Devi.”
He hoped that both states will soon thrash out all issues and execute the pending Anandpur-Naina Devi ropeway. Himachal and Punjab had signed an MoU for the execution of the ropeway during the tenure of the BJP regime headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal. However, the MoU was cancelled by the Congress government headed by Virbhadra Singh on grounds of the agreement being one-sided and against the interest of Himachal Pradesh. Since then, the project has not taken off, despite repeated efforts from both sides.
