JASWANT SINGH GANDAM / RAMAN NEHRA
India Post News Service
PHAGWARA: As part of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh November 10 conferred achievers award to over 400 eminent Punjabi personalities for their outstanding contribution in various fields, an official press note said.
Amarinder Singh said that he was overwhelmed by felicitating all those Punjabis who have distinguished themselves in different walks of life.
“Be it public life, military, civil services, judiciary or legal profession, business, agriculture, academics, religious, social activists, artists, litterateurs, poets, progressive farmers, environmentalists, science and research, sports, culture and media, our people have done extremely well and made our country and Punjab proud,” he said.
Prominent achievers who were bestowed with this coveted honour for religious and social activities included Singh Sahib Giani Ranjit Singh Gauhar Jathedar Takht Sri Patna Sahib, Baba Iqbal Singh, Baba Sewa Singh, Baba Balbir Singh Budha Dal, Sant Baba Mahinder Singh, Sant Avtar Singh, Sant Baljinder Singh, Mahant Raminder Dass, Sant Kulwant Ram Bharomajara, Sant Nirmal Dass Baba Jaure, Sant Gurdeep Giri, Sant Makhan Singh, Sant Baba Mahinder Singh Lamiya Wale and Sant Baba Nihal Singh Harian Belanwale.
Amarinder Singh also honored distinguished officers from defence services namely former Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, Gen (Retd) J.J. Singh, Air Marshal Jagjit Singh, Brig. (Retd) Sukhjit Singh, Lt. Gen. (Retd) K.J. Singh, Lt. Gen (Retd) N.S. Brar, Lt. Gen. (Retd) J.S. Cheema, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Surinder Singh, Lt. Gen. (Retd) N.P.S. Heera besides former Union minister and eminent columnist Arun Shourie.
Amongst legal luminaries honored on the occasion are Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, Justice G.R. Majithia, Justice Amarbir Singh Gill, Justice Gurdev Singh, Justice S.S. Saron, former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar and Advocate K.T.S. Tulsi.
Noted personalities from the field of art, culture, music and literature included Surjit Patar, Hans Raj Hans, Puran Chand Wadali, Malkit Singh, Dilip Kaur Tiwana, Gurmeet Bawa, Bhai Baldeep Singh, Beenu Dhillon, Jaswinder Bhalla, Balbir Rishi, Mohammad Sadique, Sardool Sikander, Puran Shah Koti, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, Preeti Sapru, Babu Singh Mann, Savita Bhatti, the wife of Jaspal Bhatti, and Manmohan Singh.
Leading NRIs who were awarded the achievers award included Harbhajan Singh Virdi, Lord Raj Loomba, Lord Swaraj Paul, S.P.S. Oberoi and Kamaljit Bakshi.
In the sports category, Chief Minister felicitated Padma Shri Balbir Singh Senior, Harmanpreet Kaur, Pargat Singh, Kartar Singh, Avneet Kaur, Manjit Kaur and Mann Kaur.
