Chandigarh: Former deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked Tourism minister Navjot Sidhu to follow a positive agenda for the holistic development of tourism in Punjab and develop infrastructure and facilities to give it a further boost instead of dismantling projects in the name of viability.
In a statement here, the SAD president said the amphibious bus project which had been scrapped by Navjot Sidhu was not his project but that of the people of the State. “It ran for ten days because it was stopped by you simply because I started it”.
Asserting that tourism projects were not established on the basis of viability, the former Deputy CM said if that was the case then Sidhu should have checked the viability of the Jang-i-Azadi memorial while releasing Rs 25 crore for the project which was established by S Parkash Singh Badal. “As much as Rs 200 crore was spent by the SAD-BJP government on the Heritage Walk leading to Shri Darbar Sahib. Should we charge people for using this road now?” He said by the same logic Sidhu should study the viability of the Mohali and Bathinda airports established by the SAD-BJP government and scrap them. “He should also study if releasing money for sewerage and water supply is viable”.
The SAD president said as far as the amphibious bus project was concerned, it had opened up the wetland to tourists for the first time. “Instead of encouraging it and letting it come into its own Sidhu has scrapped the unique project and wants to introduce 50 year old facilities like paddle boats now. Needless to say it is risky to introduce paddle boats in a river. The bus was introduced at Harike following international tourism trends but Mr Sidhu in his hatred for all projects initiated by the Badal family has stymied all chances of Harike emerging on the world tourism map”.
Requesting the Congress minister to initiate any vendetta against him but not to resort to vendetta against Punjab, the SAD president said Navjot Sidhu had on record stated that the Virasat –i-Khalsa, an iconic symbol of Sikh culture and heritage, was a white elephant. He said going by the same premise all tourism projects in Amritsar, which had boosted commerce in the city, were white elephants.
Taking all these facts into consideration, the SAD president requested Navjot Sidhu to eschew his negative agenda and focus on building more tourism infrastructure and facilities in Punjab instead of dismantling them.