Cong honours sportspersons, defence personnel at a function

With Haryana completing 50 years of its existence today, famous personalities of the state from various fields including sports, defence forces and progressive farmers were honoured at a function jointly organised by different wings of Congress party here.
Presided over by senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, 30 personalities from various fields were honoured at the event.
The function "Haryana Gaurav Sammaan Samaroh" was jointly organised by Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress, Haryana Pradesh Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress and Haryana Krishak Samaj, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of formation of Haryana.
Haryana was carved out as a separate state on November 1, 1966.

However, barring Surjewala, no other senior Congress leader from the State, including state unit President Ashok Tanwar, were present in the event.
Among the famous sports personalities who were honoured at the event here included boxer Vijender Singh, discus thrower Krishna Poonnia, wrestler Geetika Jakhar, mountaineer Santosh Yadav, former women hockey captain Ritu Rani and wrestler-coach Mahavir Phogat, on whom the upcoming biopic 'Dangal', featuring Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, has been made and is due for release later this year.

Colonel Balwan Singh, the veteran of the Kargil war and Mahavir Chakra awardee, who is currently holding a posting in Siachen area, was also honoured at the function.

The family of BSF trooper Rocky Singh, who laid down his life fighting militants in the Udhampur terror attack, was also honoured.
NCSC Chairman P L Punia, social worker Jagmiti Malik, poet Arun Jamini, famous actors Meghna Malik and Yashpal Sharma were also honoured.
Grandson of freedom fighter late Master Nand Lal received the award while family of famous Haryanvi poet Pandit Lakhmi Chand received the honour.
A representative of industrialist Vikram Kapur received the award on his behalf while progressive farmer Harpal Singh Bajwa was also honoured.
Speaking on the occasion, boxer Vijender Singh said, "as a Haryanvi, I feel so proud of our language and culture and we need to preserve it."

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On the occasion, Randeep Singh Surjewala said every Haryanvi was feeling proud of 50th anniversary of state's existence.
"What was carved out as Haryana from the then joint Punjab was then infamous for its backwardness. But over the years, due to the hard work of its people, Haryana emerged as front ranking state in various fields," Surjewala said.
He said Haryana, which holds just 1.6 per cent geographical area of the country and just 2 per cent of its population, produces 175 lakh tonne food grain, is leader in Basmati export, top in milk production, known for producing Olympic champions, while every 10th soldier of the country's defence forces comes from Haryana.

"Our present Army Chief and Navy Chief come from Haryana," Surjewala said.
Further touching upon the strides made by Haryana over the years, Surjewala said that per capita income which used to be Rs 802 way back in 1966 has now risen to Rs 1.65 lakh.
He also talked about the rapid progress which Haryana has made on industrial front.
Haryana is also a hub of IT, next only to Bengaluru and does Rs 36,000 crore worth IT business.
"People always say that Haryana is famous for kisan, jawan and pehalwan," he said.
"We need to turn pages of history and look back at our achievements and at the same time we need to sit and ponder what we can do better to take the state forward," he said.

Surjewala also talked about the challenges which Haryana faces.
Taking a veiled dig at the two-year old BJP Government which is ruling Haryana, Surjewala said, "everyone knows what is the condition of Haryana today."
"Tall promises were made, they said big companies (MNCs) will come and bring with them investments worth Rs 6.25 lakh crore and generate lakhs of jobs. But what happened, companies came to Haryana, but these were of CRPF, ITBP and Army," he said referring to the Jat stir violence in February, which claimed 30 lives.
"The biggest challenge which we face is to maintain this brotherhood, which was harmed during those events (which unfolded in February stir)," he said, adding people need to rise above considerations of caste and creed.

Meanwhile, Surjewala, who is also MLA from Kaithal, told reporters in Panchkula that he had not received any invitation for the golden jubilee celebrations function at Gurugram today, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest.
"As a MLA, I did not receive any invitation for the function," Surjewala said.