Assam institutes award in name of ninth Sikh master

Patiala: Assam government has decided to start an annual award in the name of ninth Sikh master Guru Tegh Bahadur to be given for exemplary work in social field. This was decided in a meeting between Assam chief minister Sarbnanda Sonowal and visiting Sikh delegation led by Manjinder Singh Sirsa, general secretary of the DSGMC. The delegation had urged the CM to institute the award in the name of the Guru.
A high-level delegation led by Sirsa is visiting Assam and Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, senior SAD leader, and Indu Singh, social worker, are part of the delegation.
Sirsa said that as the DSGMC had already decided to take up sewa (service) of the renovation of Gurdwara Mataji in Assam, its plan was being prepared and work on the project would begin by mid-November. He also said that the DSGMC would also take help of technical experts for the preservation of handwritten Guru Granth Sahib and other historical articles present in the Gurdwara in Assam.
Sirsa further said that as the social, economic and political condition of the Sikhs in the state was not good enough, it had been decided to set up Assam Sikh Welfare Trust, which would include Sikhs from all over the world, who would contribute to ameliorating the condition of the Sikhs in the state. He said that the said trust would formulate a plan to achieve the said purpose and implement it as soon as possible.
The DSGMC general secretary also said that as per the decision of the chief minister of Assam, he met Nagaon deputy commissioner Shamsher Singh, who is the fifth generation of general Chetnya Singh, first Sikh general who was sent by Maharaj Ranjit Singh to Assam during the Burmese invasion, to discuss allotment of 10 bighas for constructing a social welfare project and establish a community centre and education complex in the district for which the CM had already sanctioned Rs 5 crore.
He said the deputy commissioner assured the delegation that within one month he would move a proposal with the government for approval to allot the said land. The Sikh delegation also visited other gurdwaras in the area and some schools of the region.