S. Jagdish Singh Garcha

                                                  Profile of S. Jagdish Singh Garcha

Early Life

S. Jagdish Singh Garcha was born to S. Kehar Singh and Sardarni Harnam Kaur in the year 1934 in a small village "Bhutta" located in Tehsil Ahmedgarh of Distt. Ludhiana and did Matriculation from Govt. Sen. Sec. School Ghawadhi.

Work History

S. Jagdish Singh Ji and his family took on to agriculture in 1952 and later in 1958 he joined as a Supervisor at the then under-construction dam at Bhakhra Nangal where he worked for almost 3 years. Later, he joined as a supervisor at a Filling Station run by Syndicate Bus Service situated at Dholewal chowk, Ludhiana where he developed an ailment of intestine that compelled him to change his course of work as he was unable to exert physically because of the treatment he was under going at the village Aushadialya. Subsequently, he decided to set-up his own business and began with a marginal share with a liquor vendor at village Maloud.

The earning and savings grew many folds which resulted in restructuring of the farming set up of the family and use of modern and latest farming equipments helped agriculture flourish in the year to come increasing agricultural outcome to a great extent. Then in the year 1968 he took up a business opportunity as a dealer in cattle and poultry feed at Dasua in Hoshiarpur Distt., the business grew and he also started his own feed mill at Sahnewal. Meanwhile, his younger brother S. Sukhdev Singh Garcha who was till then pursuing his education in SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana also joined him. The business grew leaps and bounds by hard work and honesty and turned into a big Enterprise which had farm houses with a capacity of 1 lac birds and a hatchery at Malerkotla. During that period, he was also elected as the Sarpanch of his village in 1980.

Later in the year 1986 due to changing circumstances in Punjab the Poultry business collapsed which left him with no other option, but to change the course of business. The business of Liqour vending in villages then became the full fledged business for him and the same policy of hard work and honesty paid rich dividends and this business also flourished and uplifted the socio-economic status of the family. In the year 1992 the congress party with S. Beant Singh as Chief Minister of Punjab began to target S. Jagdish Singh Garcha and his family because of his proximity to S. Parkash Singh Badal. The Liquor business was destroyed and he was even denied entry to the auction venue. This again compelled him to change the course of his business. He then ventured into property business as a marginal player in colonizing and property dealing.

Political Career

In the year 1997, S. Parkash Singh Badal insisted and persuaded him to contest election. He contested his first election to Legislative Assembly from Kila Raipur Assembly segment. As he successfully conducted his duties as an MLA, he was promoted as a Cabinet Minister in the state government led by S. Parkash Singh Badal and was assigned the portfolio of Technical Education and he worked as the Technical Education Minister till 2002. When he took charge as the Technical Education Minister, there were only five Colleges under PTU, which was established under the Congress regime headed by Smt. Rajinder Kaur Bhathal, Chief Minister of Punjab under legislative Act, and is an autonomous body as well as the only one of its kind in Punjab, recognized by UGC with all Engineering, Management and Pharmacy colleges of Punjab affiliated to it.

S. Jagdish Singh Garcha and Punjab Technical University

However, no fund or grant was given to PTU as it was supposed to generate its own resources through intellectual and resource sharing programs. Also, earlier during 1990’s many private institutes/organizations offered IT courses to the students but these courses were not certified and were of no use to students wherein up-gradation of their qualification was concerned. All these factors gave a lead to the launch of Distance Education Program (DEP). The Director of Technical Education wished to launch Learning Centers of Punjab Technical University Jalandhar, but Secretary of Technical Education was not willing to seek permission from the study centre of IIT Delhi. At that time, the Technical Minister gave the authority to Director of Technical Education to run such institutes which were established keeping in view all prescribed norms. Due to conflict between Secretary and Director there was a delay of 7-10 months in the commencement of courses in these institutes but in spite of all these hurdles, the learning centers attracted huge crowds of students and these centers contributed immensely towards gross income of PTU. The share of PTU in the income generated by learning centers is more than what most of the 13 universities running such DEP’s have. The PTU has revenue sharing model of 30-25-45 (that is PTU, Service provider and Study Centre) which earned Rs. 12.60 CR for the university in the very first year and improved its financial condition to a great extent. The university owes the benefit of profit to the decision of Board of Governors of University which was then headed by S. Jagdish Singh Garcha.

But in 2002 under Congress regime, instead of recognition and appreciation for the efforts of S. Jagdish Singh Garcha towards development and up-gradation of PTU, a false and manipulated case was registered by Vigilance Bureau, Jallandhar against S. Jagdish Singh Garcha which was apparently an outcome of political vendetta. But Sh. Bal Krishan Mehta, Additional Session Judge, Jallandhar declared him innocent and announced in his order on 7th Aug, 2009 that it is a case of lack luster prosecution or a case of which hunting and in either case truth is the victim. In the last 66th paragraph in the judgment, it was concluded that the prosecution has failed to bring home charges against the accused and they are acquitted of the charges. It was only an effort to malign his reputation and no interest of justice was served; only the confidence of the people in the system was eroded.

Educational Institutes of S. Jagdish Singh Garcha

But, all this did not affect his service towards people and he continued making unending efforts towards the development of his constituency i.e. Kila Raipur. He ensured that the street and sanitary structure was improved, the schools were upgraded with required infrastructure and 5 science blocks were constructed during his tenure as an MLA from 1997-2007. He also contributed towards development and upliftment of this rural area of Punjab by establishing educational institutes which provide quality education to the youth of Punjab. He established Bhutta College of Engineering and Technology in 2002, Bhutta College of Education in 2006 and Baba Khajjan Dass College of Technologies in 2009. He also contributed towards social development of Ludhiana City by constructing GK Mall and Residential and Commercial Estate at Jawadi Kallan. He also developed Crown Town which is a 100 ACRE Residential Colony at Lalton Kalan, on the outskirts of Ludhiana City and gives an opportunity to the Ludhianvi’s to live in a pollution free and serene environment.