AMRITSAR: A day before  Diwali, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab Prof. Laxmi Kanta Chawla, participated in the celebrations of Diwali held at Dr. Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health ( Govt. Mental Hospital ), Amritsar and distributed gifts and sweets to the 325 inmates of the hospital.

Talking to the media, Prof. Chawla said that the motive behind celebrating Diwali in the Mental Hospital is to make the inmates feel at home and share their joy so that they may not feel themselves
bereft of warmth of their families.

Extending felicitations, Prof. Chawla called upon people to rededicate themselves to the cause of promoting social welfare.  She said that on this festival of lights may a ‘deepak’ be lighted by each one of us to rid the society from the evil of adulteration, illiteracy, corruption and female feticide.

She appealed to the public to celebrate Diwali by saying no to crackers and making it a pollution free event.  She said that sweets may be shared and clothes may the distributed to the needy instead of wasting cores of Rupees on burning crackers which cause unbearable air and noise pollution. She informed that Health Department of Punjab has initiated a war against adulteration and called upon people to join hands to combat this menace.

Earlier, a cultural programme was presented by the inmates of Mental Hospital.