Two Punjab ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Saturday wrote to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and demanded that Batala city should be created as the 24th district of the state 'to honour the wish of the people and overall development of this area'.
The ministers accentuated that Batala is a historic town but has not received the focus it deserved.
They also demanded that along with this, the historic towns of Fatehgarh Churian and Sri Hargobindpur or Ghuman should also be turned into new sub-divisions of the new district of Batala.
They pointed out that Batala was an important city of Punjab with which rich historical, religious, social and literary heritage is associated. Batala was the oldest city of Punjab after Bathinda which was founded in 1465 and also the eighth-largest city in the state in terms of the population where a Municipal Corporation was formed last year.
Stressing upon the historical heritage of Batala dating back to 1487, the ministers said that it was also an important city of the Sikh Empire after Lahore and Amritsar during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The ministers said, "From a cultural and literary point of view, there is no Punjabi across the globe who has not heard the name of the great Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar who added Batalvi to his name thereby adding to its eminence. The late poet is known in the literary field as Birha's poet and Punjabi's Keats."
( With inputs from ANI )
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