Chandigarh, Apr 5 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday urged the British Deputy High Commissioner here Caroline Rowett to take up with the British High Commissioner to India of starting direct flights between London and Chandigarh.

Taking part in deliberations, Rowett, who paid a courtesy call to the chief minister at his official residence, said she would certainly take up this matter with the British High Commissioner to start these flights to facilitate the Punjabi diaspora settled in the UK.

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These flights will also help people residing in neighbouring states of Punjab to have a seamless journey to Punjab and the UK, she said, according to an official release.

She also congratulated Mann for securing a massive mandate in the recently held Punjab assembly polls.

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Emphasising the need of an immediate direct air link between Chandigarh and London, Mann apprised Rowett that besides Punjab, the Chandigarh international airport also caters to demands of people of neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

The airport has basic facilities for handling wide bodied aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and is equipped with the CAT-IIB instrument landing system, he said, adding that the airport also has the latest infrastructure for handling international flights.

Apprising Mann about the latest technologies for bio waste management and to combat the menace of straw burning, Rowett evinced keen interest for technology transfer in these fields as the UK has the time tested and the most advanced expertise to effectively handle these crucial issues.

She also informed Mann that the UK has certain advanced post graduate courses which could be run in collaboration with some local universities and prestigious institutions of higher education to enable the state's youth to be gainfully employed across the globe.

Likewise, she also expressed her keen desire to tie up with the state sports university to start a few courses to promote sports education in sports sciences, sport technology, sports management and sports coaching.

Assuring full support and cooperation to the visiting delegation, Mann said the state government would welcome these initiatives to ensure holistic development of Punjab.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)