Jaswant Singh Gandam
PHAGWARA: Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha member and Union minister of state for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash gave an extensive visit to the buzzing Bansawala bazaar on 7 August and had interaction with shop keepers, hearing problems of cloth merchants, jewellers and others .
Accompanied by his wife cum social activist Aneeta Som Parkash and party leaders, Som Parkash met with Ashok Kultham, President Banga Road Cloth Merchant Association Phagwara, Jagjit Singh Jaura,President Swarankar Sangh Phagwara and Rakesh Bagha, President Mandi Road Cloth Merchant Association Phagwara and other members.
Honouring minister with bouquets, the Presidents of these Associations demanded district status for Phagwara Sub-division for boosting business, trade and city’s overall development. They maintained that Phagwara was landlocked and surrounded with areas of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts, having no direct connection with its own district Kapurthala.
They argued that Phagwara being an industrial and NRI hub of Doaba and situated on mainline deserved to be upgraded as a district. They also demanded beefing up of security in bazaars by enhancing night time police patrolling.
Minister assured them to look into the issues raised by them. Minister also visited Ashok Parbhakar of Bombay Dying and enquired about his health. District BJP President Rakesh Duggal and party’s Block President Paramjit Singh Pamma accompanied minister.