Israel's Punjabi community seeks Captain Amarinder's help for facilitating religious events

A delegation of members of Israel's Punjabi community on Thursday met Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and sought his help in securing permission from local authorities to hold religious functions in the country. They also sought Chief Minister's help in procuring land for building a Gurdwara.

While assuring help, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he would ask India's Ambassador in Israel, Pavan Kapoor, to help them, and advised them to meet the envoy. The Chief Minister, however, told the delegation that he had been informed by the Embassy officials that the local administration has very strict guidelines on these issues. "The embassy will see what can be done," he said.

The delegation also raised the issue of illegal agents fleecing Punjabi youth seeking visas for travel to Israel. Captain Amarinder told them his government was already cracking down on such agents, with stringent guidelines having been issued to check their proliferation in the state. The Chief Minister said he was concerned about the issue and had directed the officials to take strict action against agents found violating the guidelines.

The Punjabi community members also spoke about the contribution of Indian soldiers, particularly the Sikhs, during the World War I, when many of them had laid down their lives to protect Israeli cities from enemy attacks. Captain Amarinder recalled his visit to the Commonwealth Cemetery where he had paid his tributes to the martyred Indian soldiers.

On his last day of his Israel visit, the Chief Minister visited the Afikim Dairy Farm at Hof HaSharon, to see first-hand the techniques being deployed to boost dairy farming quality. He discussed with the officials the various varieties of fodder, as well as hygiene and care provided to the cattle at the farm. He was informed that as against 10-15 litres a day, the average daily production of milk per cow was 40 litres in the farm. The fate percentage in the milk was also much higher, at 4 per cent, compared with 2.5 per cent in Punjab.

The Israeli officials told the Chief Minister that hygienic and nutritious feed, as well as clean drinking water, was the key to higher milk production, with each cow being given about 120 litres of water every day. Climate control was also maintained with all the sheds having solar operated fans, as well as fans with mist.