LUDHIANA: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday while paying  tributes to Lord Vishwakarma Ji,  said that Lord Vishwakarma was the founder of the Craft, Art, Architecture and Engineering  and was  known  as the  God of carpenters,  oldsmiths, blacksmiths, masons and all those people who are skilled.

He further added that Lord Vishwakarma was as great as Lord BRAHMA, VISHNU  and MAHESH because all our religion scriptures contains episodes of his glorious contributions.   

The Chief Minister said that  SAD- BJP government has  embarked upon an ambitious program to open " Skill Development Centers"  one in each constituency with an investment of Rs 100 crore in  the state to impart technical training to the youth to improve their chances of employability with in the country as well as abroad.  He claimed that  this unique initiative of the state government would be a befitting tribute to Lord Vishwakarma who pioneered technological skills and craftsman in the universe. He said that our government would soon tie up with L&T group to set up an institute of construction and building materials to impart training to our unemployed youth in the different fields viz. masonry, carpentry,  marble fixing, plumbing and  electrical.

Unfolding the plans for power production, the Chief Minister said that state government has accorded top priority to execute more Power Projects and five new Thermal Plants in private sector had already been cleared by Central Power Authority and the approval for sites for
four Thermal Plants  at Mansa, Rajpura, Abohar and Mukarian had also been cleared. He claimed that after the execution of new power projects costing to around Rs. 5000 crore, the state would be surplus in power in the coming four years. He blamed the previous congress
government for the swear power problem and said that during its full five years tenure, the congress government could not executed  even a single new power project in the state. Badal also informed that to implement all the promises made with the people, the required
decisions would definitely be taken by 31st of December 2007. He disclosed that the three Boards for industry and trade were also being set up with in  a period of one month.
 
Badal further added that the situation on the education  and health  sectors was also a matter of serious attention and his government was setting up one  Adarsh Public    School in each Block, where, free quality education would be given to the  intelligent students from weaker sections. He also disclosed that his government had also launched a special program to strengthen the Health facilities for the people and the block level hospitals were being
developed into  super specialties hospitals, where,  expert Doctors of different ailments were being provided and the district level hospitals were being linked with top hospitals in the big catties through internet to provide  Tele- Medicine consultancy services. He also assured to solve the genuine problems of the Industry shortly,for which the process of discussions  had  already been started.

The Chief Minister appealed the people to improve their vocational skills  following the message of Lord Vishwakarma Ji to enhance their abilities of capture  new jobs opportunities created with the induction of modern technology, which he described  would be the real
tribute to Lord Vishwakarama ji.

Charanjit Singh Atwal Deputy Sepaker Lok Sabha addressing the function said that Lord Vishwakaram is believed to be the architect and the master of all machinery equipments of Gods. He said that Artisans worship him in all the occasions of industries. He said that
to further improve the excellence, the latest training in the engineering, Architecture  and construction  sectors should be give top priority.

Hira Singh Gabria Minister for Jails, Tourism and Cultural Affairs  while paying his tributes said that the followers of Lord Baba Vishwakarma had made substantial contributions in various fields including religion, Industry,  patriotism, fight against atrocities and social  services. He said that our great gurus had imposed full faith and respect upon the followers of Lord Vishwakara. He said that the government was giving special attention for solving the genuine
problems of industry and a number of meetings of Industrial Associations had been arranged with the Chief Minister Punjab.

Sharanjit Singh Dhillon  MP said that the  real tribute to the Lord Vishwakarama would be to create an congenial environment for the fast growth of industry  in the state.