Chandigarh: The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced the plan to honour 635 VAT payers of the state, who contributed more than 94% in VAT collections of the state. Speaking after honouring ‘Achievers of North India’ in a function held here today, Mr. Badal said that recognition was motivating factor, that propels individuals to excel in the life. Lauding organizers for recognizing the services of various individuals in different fields, Mr. Badal said that Punjab Government would also hold a function to honour those 635 VAT Payers, who were virtually sustaining the economy of Punjab.

He said that similar functions would also be organized at district levels to honour complaint tax payers. He said that he was happy to know that the VAT Collection in the state has more than doubled in last five years due to transparency in collection initiated by him and it is likely to touch Rs. 16,000 crore this year. Promising total transformation of the state in next three years, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Punjab Government has already finalized a plan to give a big push to infra sector in a big way. He said that besides linking all cities with 4/6 lane roads at the cost of Rs. 12000 crore, the dream of making Punjab power surplus would be realized by December this year. He said that POWERCOM was sorting out the problem of coal allocation as Coal India had already committed 100% coal linkage to upcoming plants.