Congress to focus on health and social security in manifesto

Mansa, Dec 24 (UNI) The Punjab Congress would give priority to the social security and health sectors, besides focusing on the development of agriculture and industry in its manifesto for the Assembly upcoming elections to be held in February.

Addressing mediapersons at Jhunir village at the end of the fourth leg of his 'Vikas Yatra' today, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he would soon hold a joint meeting with Punjab Congress chief Shamsher Singh Dullo to finalise the election manifesto and the campaign committee.

He said the Congress party had already prepared a working document of the manifesto which would be presented to the election committee of the party high command for fine tuning.

Outlining the proposed salient features, he said the party would also extend benefits to the economically weaker sections of the society irrespective of their castes on the pattern of scheduled castes and backward classes in the new manifesto.

He said there were umpteen families in Punjab who were economically backward and under privileged and the Congress was committed to improve their lot by bringing them within the ambit of the schemes already ment for SC/BC families.

Expressing satisfaction over the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that if Punjab continued to make progress like this it would be soon be on par with Germany by 2020, Capt Singh said he made this statement at Mohali during his visit to lay the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Sciences a few months back.

The statement was nothing short of compliment from a world renowned economist, he added.

Replying to a question about the next round of the Vikas yatra, Capt Singh said he had proposed to undertake four to five such yatras in the month of January and two to three in February till the elections.

He said the prime objective of the yatra was to apprise the people of Punjab about the development activities and achievements of his government.

He said with the culmination of the fourth round of the yatra as many as 55 to 56 assembly constituencies had been covered.

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