Don't expect PM to come with cheque everytime:CM

Abohar, Dec 19 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had done a lot for the state, with it receiving financial grants amounting to about Rs 10,000 crore from the centre in the last two-and-a-half-years.

''The Prime Minister is not expected to come up every time with a cheque book to sanction financial grants during his visit to Punjab'', he said when asked whether he expected the PM to announce a financial package for the border state during his two day visit to Amritsar begining tonight.

The grants received by Punjab were the ever highest ever in the history of the state in the last 60 years, he added. ''The Akalis could only managed a grant of Rs 50 crore from former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Capt Singh said.

He said that the Prime Minister would launch the Rs 250 crore Guru Ram Dass scheme of the Jawaharlal Nehru urban Renewal Mission for Amritsar tmorrow and would also hand over the historic Gobindgarh fort to the district administration. Besides Dr Singh will lay the foundation stone of the 600 MW thermal plant of Goindwal Sahib to be built at a cost of Rs 3000 crore, he added.

''These projects would further add up Rs 3000 to 4000 crore in addition to earlier Rs 10,000 crore'', he added.

UNI HS VD RS1926