Bathinda/Ferozepur February 18:
The much-awaited tour of the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, to Ferozepur and Badal village was called off at the last minute as inclement weather in Delhi prevented his plane from taking off.
The Vice-President accompanied by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil and HK Dua, MP, was scheduled to land at Bhisiana Air Force station in Bathinda at 10 am from where he was to board a chopper for Ferozepur.
In Ferozepur, Ansari was to visit an orphanage and the Home for the Blind before visiting Badal village for a lunch hosted in his honour by the Chief Minister. To receive the Vice-President and the Governor, senior officials in Bathinda, including DIG Lok Nath Angra and Deputy Commissioner S. Karuna Raju, had reached Bhisiana.
At 10 am, the DC received an intimation that the plane could not take off and might get delayed by an hour. After an hour, the DC again received information that the tour of the Vice-President had been cancelled due to bad weather. A similar communication was also sent to the Muktsar and Ferozepur district administrations.
However, unconfirmed sources said Ansari cancelled his visit after he came to know about the death of two labourers while fixing a flex board to welcome him. The cancellation of the visit led to disappointment among inmates of the Home for the Blind and Arya Anathalya (orphanage) in Ferozepur and the Old Age Home at Badal. Ansari also had to inaugurate the platinum jubilee function of the Dev Samaj College for Women in Ferozepur. The inmates had hoped that the plight of their institutions, which have been running on donations without substantial help from the Centre and state governments, would improve after Ansari’s visit.
Harish K Monga, assistant secretary, said HK Dua was to announce Rs 15 lakh from his MPLAD funds for providing inmates with talking computers. PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh said Ansari was likely to visit the town within a few weeks.
The much-awaited tour of the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, to Ferozepur and Badal village was called off at the last minute as inclement weather in Delhi prevented his plane from taking off.
The Vice-President accompanied by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil and HK Dua, MP, was scheduled to land at Bhisiana Air Force station in Bathinda at 10 am from where he was to board a chopper for Ferozepur.
In Ferozepur, Ansari was to visit an orphanage and the Home for the Blind before visiting Badal village for a lunch hosted in his honour by the Chief Minister. To receive the Vice-President and the Governor, senior officials in Bathinda, including DIG Lok Nath Angra and Deputy Commissioner S. Karuna Raju, had reached Bhisiana.
At 10 am, the DC received an intimation that the plane could not take off and might get delayed by an hour. After an hour, the DC again received information that the tour of the Vice-President had been cancelled due to bad weather. A similar communication was also sent to the Muktsar and Ferozepur district administrations.
However, unconfirmed sources said Ansari cancelled his visit after he came to know about the death of two labourers while fixing a flex board to welcome him. The cancellation of the visit led to disappointment among inmates of the Home for the Blind and Arya Anathalya (orphanage) in Ferozepur and the Old Age Home at Badal. Ansari also had to inaugurate the platinum jubilee function of the Dev Samaj College for Women in Ferozepur. The inmates had hoped that the plight of their institutions, which have been running on donations without substantial help from the Centre and state governments, would improve after Ansari’s visit.
Harish K Monga, assistant secretary, said HK Dua was to announce Rs 15 lakh from his MPLAD funds for providing inmates with talking computers. PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh said Ansari was likely to visit the town within a few weeks.
