NRI Punjabis express desire to invest for development of Punjab

New Delhi, Jan 16(ANI): Many of the non-resident Indian (NRI) Punjabis from across the world, who took part in the eighth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in the national capital, have shared their plans about investing in India and in Punjab.

The three-day event was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, while top businessmen, economists, entrepreneurs and scientists from 50 countries attended it.

Themed 'Engaging the Diapora: The Way Forward', the event primarily focused on boosting investment and sharing of expertise.

One of the major highlights of the event was the first meeting of the Prime Minister's Global Advisory Council, comprising 20 top global business leaders and economists of Indian origin.

"We are immensely proud of the achievements of our Diaspora. Your achievements have made a great contribution to changing the image of India to the world at large," Manmohan Singh said.nteractive sessions with Chief Ministers of various was also held, where issues related to the states were addressed on a priority basis.

Investment promotion, sharing of knowledge and property issues relating to the expatriates were the main themes of the event.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said that NRI Punjabis raised several issues related to identity crisis of the Sikhs in France, property issues in Punjab and much more.

"We welcome all. We have come up with lot of initiatives and to build a confidence among the expatriates we met all their demands. We are getting a positive response from the NRIs. Hopefully, we'll have lot of investment," Badal said.

Among many NRI Punjabis who were keen to invest in Punjab and in other parts of the country was the leading Indian American Hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal.

Chatwal, who runs a chain of Dream Hotels in India, plans to spend over 350 million dollars to set up luxury hotels in Mohali, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. He also informed that his priority is building a heritage hotel in Amritsar.

"I am still looking forward. Golden Temple is a wonderful place, as one of the place to visit in the world. It needs some more infrastructures. So, we can encourage people from all over the world to come and look at not the eighth wonder on the earth, but the first wonder on the earth," Chatwal said.

Meanwhile, taking a serious note of the problems of NRI Punjabis, the Punjab government has agreed to set up a State Commission to look into the matter.

The Commission, headed by a retired Judge of High Court, would entertain only those issues that cannot be tackled by other departments.

In addition the Punjab government has already amended East Punjab Rent Act to get tenants to vacate property belonging to NRI's that is on rent.

Moreover, every district in Punjab has separate revenue court for the NRIs. By Ravi Khandelwal(ANI)