Mohali, Apr 22 - Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today envisioned that his state would soon emerge as a front runner state in terms of the health care and education infrastructure in the country.

The SAD-BJP Government had sharpened its focus on the overall development and growth of these key sectors, Badal said addressing a public gathering after the inauguration of the Regional Spinal Injury Centre (RSIC) at Sector 70 here.

The prime objective of the ruling combine was to ensure the best and affordable health care and diagnostic services, besides imparting quality education at the school, college and university levels.

He said this centre equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities would provide the best and affordable treatment to the patients inflicted with spinal injuries besides paraplegics from Punjab, Haryana, Union Territory of Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister said that the state government would spare no efforts to make the RSIC a leading institute in the country and the state government had already spent Rs seven crore on this prestigious institute.

To ensure smooth functioning of the RSIC, he said, a dedicated fund would be created in terms of corpus to make this institute economically viable and financially sustainable to meet out its day-to-day expenses for which a budgetary provision would be made in the annual state budget 2012-13.

Showing deep concern over the growing trend of drug menace particularly amongst the youth, Badal sought cooperation from the people to combat this social evil to save the youth who had gone astray.

The chief minister also asked the Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal to show no complacency towards the culprits involved in drug trafficking.

He said the Punjab government would soon evolve a time bound action plan to tackle the problem of drug addiction and initiate a campaign to motivate the youths fallen prey to drugs so as to bring them back to the mainstream through proper counselling and guidance by the drug de-addiction centres across the state.

Later talking to media persons, Badal claimed that the Congress-led UPA government would soon be decimated from the Centre.

Referring to the Congress' defeat in the Municipal Corporation elections of Delhi at the hands of BJP, he claimed that the defeat of Congress was a pointer towards the fact that its days were numbered at the Centre due to its "rampant corruption, maladministration and autocratic functioning".

On the question of validity of the appointments of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries by the SAD-BJP government recently after the combine returned to power in the state last month, Badal said, Punjab was not the only state which has appointed them as there were many other states following this practise.

Justifying the appointment of CPSs, Badal said they were the elected representatives of the people and were discharging their duties in assisting the Ministers to whom they are attached.

Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Mitttal said that RSIC was the first centre which had been made functional besides three others set up in the country at Jabalpur, Cuttack and Rai Bareilly.

Mitttal assured that the state government was committed to providing the best health care facilities to the people especially in the rural areas. PTI