Union minister Som Parkash writes to Punjab CM, demands district status for Phagwara

Phagwara, September 8

Union minister Som Parkash on Wednesday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh demanding district status for Phagwara.

Presently, Phagwara is part of Kapurthala district.

Parkash, who is an MP from Hoshiarpur, wrote, “It has been reported in the media that the Punjab government is considering making Batala a district. It is pertinent to mention that Phagwara is an old industrial town on the main national highway between Ludhiana and Jalandhar.”       

He said the people of this area face a lot of problems as they have to travel far to the district headquarters for redressal of their grievances.

The letter, whose copies were supplied to the media here, further said, “It has been a long-standing demand for granting district status to Phagwara by including Phillaur, Goraya and Behram. Earlier also, requests to this effect have been made which are pending consideration.”        

The minister of state for commerce and industry wrote, “Keeping in view the emerging needs from administrative point of view and demand of the general public, it is expedient that creation of a new district of Phagwara be announced in order to give justice to the aspiration of the people.”          

He demanded that the chief minister declare Phagwara as a district at the earliest.

Parkash’s letter to Singh comes amid a demand for declaring Batala as a new district by two ministers, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, and Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa. —PTI