Anandpur Sahib, Nov. 25 -- The Punjab government has decided to grant holy city status to Amritsar walled city, Talwandi Sabo and Anandpur Sahib, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said on Monday. The chief minister was addressing mediapersons here shortly after the Punjab assembly unanimously passed a resolution declaring Anandpur Sahib in Rupnagar district, Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda and the Galiara area around the Golden Temple in Amritsar as holy cities. The sale and use of meat, liquor, tobacco, and other intoxicants will be prohibited in these cities, he added. The resolution was moved by Mann during a special session of the assembly, which was convened to mark the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur. It was for the first time that a session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was held outside state capital Chandigarh. Mann said since decades, people have been seeking holy city status for these places. He said such proposals were mooted during the tenures of previous governments but were never implemented. "Our government is blessed to have taken this decision. The special session will be remembered for a long time for this move," he added. Mann said these places are not just religious centres but also symbols of our civilisational heritage. "Declaring them holy cities was not just a demand by a single political party, community or religion, rather, it was an essential step toward the preservation and global promotion of our cultural heritage", he said....