Punjab News: Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit has hit back at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s objection to his visits to the state’s border districts. Governor Purohit said that he is the governor of a border state like Punjab and cannot shy away from his responsibilities as a constitutional head. Describing the drugs coming from across the border as a very serious matter, he said that he sends a report of his every visit to the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had objected to the Governor’s visits yesterday. After this, the Governor called the media personnel at 4 pm on Friday evening, then there was a discussion that he would make a big attack on Mann, but avoiding a direct attack on the Chief Minister, he also praised the Chief Minister in many matters.
I am not campaigning and I am not contesting the elections.
Governor Purohit said that the Chief Minister should not have any objection to my tours. I am not campaigning for any election nor do I have to contest the elections. I also do not disrupt the work of the state government. Only the Chief Secretary and DGP accompany me from Chandigarh and in the district where they go, there are only 5-7 officers including the DC and SSP.
Border districts will get entry drones within a year
The Governor said that to deal with the problem of drugs coming through drones on the border, the Central Government has provided anti-drones, which have brought good results. However, till now only 25 percent of the border area is being covered by these anti-drones. The Governor said that he had talked to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about this, on which he has assured that within a year every border district will get an entry drone.
He also praised Chief Minister Mann
The Governor said that Pakistan knows that it cannot fight India directly, so it has adopted the strategy of weakening our next generation by making them addicted to drugs. He has learnt from these visits to the border districts that there is lack of coordination among the major departments and wings to tackle the problem of drugs, so he also includes officials from NIA, Army, BSF, IB, NCRB and Punjab Police in his meetings.
Purohit said that by forming Village Defence Committees in every village, this has been brought under control to a great extent. In view of the connivance of the police in police stations, the Governor said that the transfer of 10,000 employees by the Chief Minister recently has been a very effective step. He revealed that after his first visit, he had also given this feedback to the Chief Minister that the junior employees in police stations are in connivance with drug smugglers.
Maybe the CM did not like me, that’s why I offered to resign
On being asked about the reason behind his resignation offer earlier this year, the Governor said that it is possible that the Chief Minister was upset with me, that is why I resigned. I had already resigned, what could I do if it was not accepted. On being asked about the President returning the bill passed by the Punjab Assembly that made the Chief Minister the Chancellor of the University in Punjab instead of the Governor, the Governor said that this bill was related to him, so it would not have been right for him to take a decision.
That is why he sent this bill to the President and it got rejected from there. The President is supreme. He appealed to the Chief Minister to listen to him. At present, 10 universities of the state are without regular vice chancellors. This is a very dangerous situation for higher education. Purohit told that he has also been the Governor of Tamil Nadu and he had appointed 27 vice chancellors there, but the Chief Minister did not raise any objection.
