Tribune News Service

Lambi (Muktsar), May 18

Toeing the line of his father, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, General Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has started making inroads into the backward and Scheduled Caste sections by holding small “sangat darshan” programmes in the localities inhabited by them in this assembly segment.

Meanwhile, Mr Gurpreet Singh Kangar, member, zila parishad, and senior Youth Akali Dal leader, has launched a campaign to uplift the Scheduled Caste and backward class people in the Rampuraphul Assembly segment by facilitating them to get education.

Mr Kangar, a close confident of Mr Sukhbir Badal, has been distributing notebooks in rural schools to students belonging to Scheduled Castes and backward classes. The covers of the notebooks carry the photo of Mr Sukhbir Badal.

Mr Sukhbir Badal while talking to TNS said while interacting with people belonging to the Scheduled Castes, especially the youths, he asked them about their problems and solve them on the spot. He added that to make them more confident and to develop their personalities, mini clubs had been set up in the villages falling in this segment.

He pointed out that sports kits were being given to such youths so that they could use their talent in that field also. He added that youths were also being educated against the use of drugs.

To promote the sportsmanship among youths, village level competitions were being held. Rural sports mela in which sarpanches and panchayat members used to participate were also being held at Badal village every year.

Mr Kangar said on the directives of Mr Badal, sewing machines were being given to widows of Scheduled Castes and those women who belonged to the poor section of the society. He added that youths had planned to hold a mini rural Olympics in Mehraj village in Bathinda district, which was one of the biggest villages in the country.