Mohali: Business and industry in the country today gave a forceful endorsement to the new investment policy orientation ofPunjabas the two day Progressive Punjab Investment Summit began at the ISB campus here today.
Top business honchos firm up investment worth Rs 55000 crore in the state
Badal asks Deputy CM to closely follow up the MoUs for ensuring investments to come on ground
With some of the top names with global profiles, like Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Mr. LN Mittal, Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Mr. Sunil Munjal, Mr. YC Deveshwar, Mr. Onkar Singh Kanwar, Mr. Malwinder Mohan Singh among others,flanking Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on the stage, this was quite easily the biggest day for investment promotion for Punjab and for show-casing the state as the most preferred investment destination in the country.
As Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal finished his elaborate and fact based presentation on what he called “a new reality about Punjab,” the industry responded by giving him and the Punjab government a full-throated testimonial, with LN Mittal going the extent of declaring that Punjab was the quickest in responding to business requests. The Deputy Chief Minister positioned himself as the CEO of the state when it came to business and industrial investment, and speaker after speaker got up to give him the thumbs up.
It was clearly from the whole hearted response of the tycoons of business and industry that the Deputy CM had done his home work well and had succeeded and projecting his government as the most business friendly government in the country. Not just the commitments of Rs 55000 crores of investments but even the words in the speeches that accompanied these decisions proved that Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal had been received an overwhelming mandate in his favor from the captains of business, trade and industry. His “Think Big, Achieve Big”, and “Money follows ideas” slogans evoked instant response.
While the Deputy CM focused on “walking the talk” and elaborated the path-breaking steps already taken by his government to cut red tape through a regime of governance reforms, the Chief Minister envisionedPunjabas the most preferred investment destination in the country.
The Chief Minister envisioned Punjab as the most preferred investment destination with firming up of total investment to the tune of Rs 55000 crore on the first day of Progressive Punjab Investors summit, where eminent industrialists and entrepreneurs from the country and across the globe evinced keen interest to set up their ventures in varied fields.
The Chief Minister said thatPunjab’s economy was predominantly an agrarian economy which has already reached a plateau and now we were left with only option to go for industrialization in a big way and today’s summit was a step towards this direction. He announced to convene a much bigger summit on agriculture in February next year thereby inviting the key players in agro processing and stakeholders related to agriculture not only from the country but abroad also to further consolidate the agrarian base of our economy with a focus on marketing besides food processing as a value addition to the agriculture produce to benefit the farmers enormously. Mr. Badal impressed upon the leading players of the industry to attend that Agriculture summit also with same enthusiasm so that pro-farmer policies could be chalked out to help our beleaguered peasantry especially the small and marginal farmers.
The Chief Minister said that he had prioritized the Health and Education sector by launching unique schemes so that these core sectors should not be ignored at any cost. He said that the state government has started Dr Hargobind Khurana Post Matric scholarship scheme to give scholarship to the poor but bright students securing more than 80% marks in Matric class. Likewise Mr. Badal said that six special schools were being set up by the state government to provide free education to meritorious students of the rural areas adding that these schools would provide free boarding and lodging facilities to the students at par with the private schools.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that Punjab would be only state with best air connectivity having three international airports at Mohali,Amritsarand upcoming at Macchiwara besides three domestic terminals at Bathinda,Ludhianaand Pathankot. He further said thatPunjabwas having the finest road network having four/ six lanes roads throughout the state which connected all the cities and towns of the state. The Deputy Chief Minister said that the state government has embarked a major scheme for the comprehensive planning and development of urban and rural areas across the state thereby equipping them with 100% water supply and sewerage facility.
Earlier the Chief Secretary Mr. Rakesh Singh welcomed the esteemed gathering whereas Cabinet Minister Mr. Madan Mohan Mittal proposed the vote of thanks. Principal Secretary Industries Mr. Karan Avtar Singh conducted the proceedings of the state. Prominent amongst those present on the occasion Cabinet Ministers Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Mr. Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Mr. Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Mr. Sikander Singh Maluka, Mr. Sharanjeet Singh Dhillon, Advisor to Chief Minister on Media and National Affairs Mr. Harcharan Bains, Media Advisor to Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Jangveer Singh, Assistant Media Advisor to Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Harjinder Sidhu, State BJP President Mr. Kamal Sharma, Financial Commissioner Revenue Mr. NS Kang, Financial Commissioner Development Mr. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretaries to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar and Mr. KJS Cheema.