Punjab govt asks for industrial incentives for border areas

Chandigarh, Mar 16 (UNI) The Punjab government has urged the Union government to provide incentives to the industrial units in border and sub mountaineous areas of the state on the pattern of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

In a communique sent today to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pointed out that this incentive could give a fillip to industrial development in the state.

Regarding other pending issues with the Centre, Mr Badal urged the Prime Minister to resolve all pending issues related to the states development.

In this context, he referred to the Rs 210 crore elevated road to link National Highway No-I to Sri Harimandir Sahib, Amritsar under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Chief Minister urged the PM to sanction the elevated road project under JNNURM as the concerned Union Minister had not agreed to include the project under the mission.

He sought Prime Minister's personal intervention to advise the concerned Ministry to include the project under JNNURM and provide requisite funds to hasten its implementation.

He also urged Dr Singh to expedite the clearance of the International Airport at Halwara in Ludhiana district. He has pointed out that the Ministry of Defence had some inhibitions regarding the project and these needed to be sorted out.

In the communique, Mr Badal also sought the personal intervention of the Prime Minister for the supply of 1,500 MWs additional power already announced by him, besides allocation of another 1,500 MWs additional power from one of the ongoing Super Thermal Power Projects.

He has pointed out that as against the total installed capacity of 6,088 MWs, the peak demand of the state was 9,000 MWs.

The Chief Minister also requested the Prime Minister to expedite the approval of the National Defence University proposal. He pointed out that a 100 acre plot at Patiala had been selected by the Defence Ministry for this project.

Mr Badal also urged the Prime Minister to allocate coal mine blocks to the coal based 600 MW thermal power project at Goindwal Sahib which was being set up by GVK Power Ltd.

The Chief Minister had already taken up all these issues personally with the Prime Minister, when he called on him in New Delhi last week.

UNI