Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh formally inaugurates new Viewers’ Gallery at Hussainiwala
Ferozepur, October 17, 2017: Ultimately the Viewers’ Gallery at Hussainiwala found the VIP to formally inaugurate it today. The working on the new visitors’ gallery had since been completed and is in use by the visitors but could not be inaugurated due to one or the other reasons.
The ignored media persons boycott the Press Conference and left
Today, the Visitors’ Gallery at Joint Check Post Hussainiwala, was formally inaugurated by Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister when Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, Punjab and K.K.Sharma Director General Border Security Force were also present.
The work of Viewers’ Gallery was allotted on August 19, 2011, and the work on Rs.16.39 crore was started on January 1, 2012. While VG was completed in 2015 but it has been formally inaugurated today.
Others present were, Sher Singh Ghubaya, MP, Parminder Singh Pinky, MLA Ferozepur, and Satkar Kaur Gehri, MLA Ferozepur Rural.
Earlier, Union Home Minister also visited the historical Saragarhi Gurdawara and Barqi Square followed by floral tributes at Shaheed Bhagat Singh National Memorial.
Already constructed there is an also a gateway on the Indian side of the border close to the JCP at a cost of around Rs.30 lakh which was constructed to counter the outlook of Pakistan side which had the huge gateway on its side.
The new visitors’ gallery with state-of-the-art facilities can accommodate more than 1,800 visitors on any given day.
The foundation stone of this gallery was laid by P.Chidambaran, former Union Home Minister in the august presence of Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Deputy Chief Minister and Rama Shrvastava, Director General, BSF on October 22, 2010.
Say, about seven years, the Viewers’ Gallery has been inaugurated today formally which was completed about one and a half year back and used by the visitors.
Owing to a large number of spectators coming to watch this exhilarating retreat ceremony by “Seema Praharis”, the BSF authorities were finding it difficult to house huge crowds due to the space constraint in the present pavilion.
In fact, the Pakistani authorities had constructed a much bigger and attractive pavilion on their side, which created the need for renovation and beautification of the pavilion and sitting arena on the Indian side too.
But with the coming up of new Visitors’ Gallery, the spectator area on Pakistan’s side looks to be smaller one as compared to the Indian side.
After waiting for about 40 minutes, in a room where Union Home Minister was to address the media persons left with a boycott to the press conferences which was, however, confirmed by the Chief PRO BSF after the lunch after one and a half hour.
As a security, the roads connected to the villages like Gatti Rajo Ke – were totally blocked and people on their bikes, cars, cycles, and schoolboys were detained for more than 90 minutes.
Unfortunately, the interaction with the media persons could not be arranged due to lack of coordination between the district administration and border security force officials. The media persons were kept away from the ‘pandal’ where the Union Home Minister addressed the jawans. Even the prominent persons who had also reached at the Joint Check Post Hussainiwala too were waiting outside the ‘pandal’.
