Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Centre to open up trade with Pakistan through Hussainiwala border and demanded a special package for farmers in border areas to which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured his government is making "every effort to ensure overall development of the state".
Badal also put forth a slew of demands before Modi who addressed a gathering at the India-Pakistan border here after paying floral tributes to freedom struggle martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.
The Prime Minister recalled his strong 'blood relation' with Punjab and said he would sit with Badal and chalk out a strategy to sort out the issues raised by him.
"I am indebted to Punjab for giving me a wide political and social experience during my stay in the state for over two decades," he said.
Appealing to the Centre to open up trade with Pakistan through Hussainiwala border, Badal urged it to bring the list of items traded through the Attari border on par with the list of those exported through the Mumbai-Karachi sea route.
The Central Government should evolve a special scheme for developing the border areas and restart the special scheme for providing relief to the farmers who own land across the border, he said.
Badal also suggested that the Centre give a free hand to the states for acquiring land both for the state and union projects.
Demanding a special package for farmers in border areas, the chief minister also sought an upward revision of the compensation for natural disaster-hit farmers as the existing sum was "meagre and inadequate".
The Prime Minister said he was honoured to have been "politically groomed" by Badal, who was one of the most visionary politicians of the country.
