Disclosing this to media persons after attending a meeting to review the arrangements for the celebrations, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that the Rs 19-crore draft was handed over to him by Union Additional Secretary, Culture Affairs, R. V. Vedyanathan Iyer.

The sanction is a part of the Rs-50 crore grant announced earlier by the Government of India, Badal said, adding that the money would also be spent on development works in the city.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, who was scheduled to chair the meeting, could not attend it due to political developments in New Delhi. Joshi, who is also the chairman of the implementation committee of the tercentenary celebrations, may preside over the next review meeting in the near future, the Chief Minister said.

Justifying his party's decision to back the BJP government on Bihar issue, Badal said, ``we won't let the Congress make gains out of the present situation.'' When pointed out that his party MP, Prem Singh Chandumajra, and SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, a Rajya Sabha member, had decided otherwise, Badal said, ``we have issued a whip to party MPs''.

Asked if any action would be initiated against the two in case they refused to ratify the decision, he said, ``What for have I issued the whip?''

Earlier in the day, Badal paid obeisance at Gurdwara Kesgarh Sahib here. Later, he presided over the meeting at Dashmesh Academy to review the preparations for the tercentenary celebrations.

The meeting was attended by officials of the Anandpur Sahib Urban Development Authority, members of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, who are camping here to paint the city white. Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar Manjit Singh, Delhi Akali Dal president Avtar Singh Hit and Haryana Home Minister Mani Ram Godara were also present. Godara was here to represent Chief Minister Bansi Lal. K. P. Aggarwal represented Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.

Badal also held discussions with district Akali Dal and SGPC leaders.

After the meeting, Badal pulled up the Dashmesh Academy authorities for razing trees from the site of the proposed martial arts academy. The academy staff, however, said that the decision was necessitated to arrange funds by auctioning the trees.

An official spokesman later disclosed that various programmes for the celebrations were chalked out during the meeting. According to him, memorials at the native towns of the ``Panj Piaras'' would be constructed as part of the tercentenary programmes. The towns include Lahore, the native city of Daya Singh, Hastinapur, Bidar, Puri and Dwarka.

He said that the Ministry of External Affairs had asked the Pakistan government and respective state governments to make suitable arrangements.

A stamp and a series of gold and silver coins dedicated to the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations would be released shortly. The date and the venue of the ceremony, however, have not been decided, the spokesman said. While the Ministry of Finance has consented to release the coins, the President of India will release the proposed stamp.

In another significant development, the state government has decided to publish Dasham Granth of Guru Gobind Singh in various regional languages. On its part, the UP government has earmarked a five-acre land in Lucknow for setting up Guru Gobind Singh Research Complex.