Punjab Government has decided to extend invitation to 550 NRI Punjabis on the occasion of Sikhs’ first master, Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birthday celebrations, to be held in November 2019.

Announcing this while assuming the charge of his new ministry — the NRI Affairs, the state’s Cabinet Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Wednesday said that the Punjab Government is in the process of chalking out, since last year, detailed programmes which would culminate in November 2019. “It has also been decided to invite 550 NRIs in order to enable them to witness the historic celebrations,” he said.

Sodhi said that the arrangements of boarding, lodging as well as transportation would be made by the Punjab Government. These NRI Punjabis would be taken to visit Sultanpur Lodhi, Batala and Dera Baba Nanak, said Sodhi, who is also the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister.

Sodhi also directed the officers to formulate an effective mechanism for speedily redressing the grievances of the NRIs pertaining to the property and marriages. The Minister also said that there should not be any delay in providing justice to the NRI community.

“The cases connected with the property fall under the Revenue Department and I would ensure that contact is established as soon as possible with the Revenue Department and their officers are deployed as the nodal officers at the grassroots level,” he said while making it clear that these officers of the Tehsildar level would only deal with the cases regarding the properties owned by NRIs.

Adding more, the Minister said that in order to honour the NRIs carving out a niche for themselves in various spheres thus earning laurels for the country, the ‘Achiever Awards’ would be started for which the Department has been directed to work out the modalities. The Awards would be given with effect from the next year.

The Minister called upon the officers to work with all the more enthusiasm so as to ensure the success of the ‘Connect With Your Roots’ initiative launched by the Chief Minister to help connect the NRI Punjabi youth with their roots back home. The youth should be invited to visit Punjab and tour programmes be organized for them, he said.

Sodhi also directed the departmental officers to compile a report of various cases, related to the NRIs, lying pending in different wings and furthermore, the record with regard to the solved as well as the unsolved cases be submitted to him.