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JAKHAR ASKS MODI TO ANNOUNCE SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR PUNJAB, INDUSTRIAL PROJECT FOR GURDASPUR DURING WEDNESDAY’S VISIT

-- 01 January,2019

Chandigarh, January 1 

Member of Parliament and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President Sunil Jakhar has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a special package for the border state and a major industrial project for Gurdaspur during his visit to the district on Wednesday. 

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the PPCC president said that despite the poor track record of the BJP and its Prime Minister in keeping their promises, people still expected Modi to announce something substantial for the state. 

“We have over 1000 acres of land in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur, which we are willing to give for any industrial project that can generate employment for the youth of the border district,” said Jakhar, adding that the Prime Minister should also consider announcing some industrial concessions for the border districts on the lines of the freight equalisation policy. 

Jakhar further demanded that the Prime Minister should also announce the settlement of the Rs 31,000 crore of Food Account on procurement of wheat and paddy, which was wrongly taken over by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government instead of being adjusted between the state and central governments. The state government had been pursuing the issue for long and it was high time that Punjab and its people were freed from this unjustified debt burden, he added. 

Taking a dig at Modi over his failure to fulfill the promises made during the run-up for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Jakhar said, “people are still waiting for the ‘acche din’, return of the black money and Rs 15 lakhs in their accounts”. 

He said that though he did not have any hopes from the prime minister, he had made these demands thinking that “electoral compulsions” and the urge to come back to power might force Modi to do something for Punjab and its people at this juncture. 

While thanking the Prime Minister and his Pak counterpart for the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, Jakhar hoped that the union government would have all the necessary infrastructure in place before the celebrations of the 550th Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev ji in November this year. 

Targeting former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Jakhar asked if, before stepping on the stage for welcoming and praising Modi, SAD would question him over going back on his word on the issue of extending help to Sikh farmers of Gujarat, whose land holdings had been frozen by the Gujarat government. Modi had promised to help these farmers during his 2014 rally in Bathinda but the Gujarat government had filed a SLP in the Supreme Court against the “unanimous” stay granted by a triple bench of the state high court against evacuation of the Sikh farmers from their land, he pointed out. 

Jakhar also asked Badal to question Modi on why the union government had imposed GST on Langar. “It took us one year of struggle to convince the Centre to withdraw this GST,” said Jakhar, while challenging Badal to ask Modi why this tax was even imposed in the first place.  

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