Eastern freight corridor to give major fillip to Pb devp:Badal

Describing the Centre's nod to the Amritsar-Delhi- Kolkata industrial corridor project as a "historic initiative", Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today claimed the decision was an outcome of SAD-BJP alliance's concerted efforts.
"Besides writing letters, I had personally taken up this matter with the Union government a number of times," Badal told reporters in Kapurthala.
Badal said that realising the vast significance of this project, which would "accelerate the tempo of ongoing overall development of the state" on one hand and give a major fillip to the industrial development of the state on the other, the Punjab government had taken up this issue at the various levels with the Union government.

He said that he was happy that "finally conceding to the demand of the state government, the Union government has taken this historic initiative".
Demanding a special economic package for Punjab, the Chief Minister said the Centre must recognise the mass contribution of state by giving it a special status.
"However, despite enormous contribution of the state the Congress led successive Central governments had completely ignored it while formulating the policies," he alleged.

Badal claimed that due to the anti-Punjab policies of the Congress-led Union government the industrial and agricultural sectors of the state have "suffered adversely".
"The Union government is adopting policy of pick and choose while allocating funds required for the modernisation of the police," he said, adding "this attitude of the Union government is not in the larger interest of the country."

When asked to comment on the notice issued by the Delhi Municipal Corporation to the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) for their proposal to construct the memorial of the Sikhs killed in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Chief Minister termed it as "unfortunate", and said that there was no harm in constructing the memorial to pay homage to those innocent people who were killed in the riots.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave green signal to the ambitious Amritsar-Delhi- Kolkata industrial corridor project, on the lines of DMIC, to promote development of northern region and create more jobs.