Khatkar Kalan, Sep 28 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday announced Rs 50 lakh for the upkeep and maintenance of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh's memorial at the revolutionary's ancestral village Khatkar Kalan, where Amarinder paid floral tributes on the martyr's 113th birth anniversary.

Remembering the courage of Bhagat Singh and other martyrs during the Indian freedom struggle, the Chief Minister exhorted the youth to emulate the high ideals of these revolutionaries.

Amarinder Singh recalled his visit to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where scores of revolutionaries lived through horrifying hardships in their fight to free India from the shackles of British imperialism.

The Chief Minister was joined by AICC General Secretary and Punjab Affairs in-charge Harish Rawat, who also paid rich tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, along with state party President Sunil Jakhar and MP Preneet Kaur at the 'samadhi sthal'.

Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, while paying homage to Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, called upon the people to follow in his footsteps and take inspiration from his ideals.