Chandigarh March 3, 2009

General Elections to Lok Sabha, 2009- Election Schedule for State of Punjab

ONE MORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FOR PUNJAB
RS. 17500 CRORE GREEN FIELD AIRPORT TO COME UP NEAR LUDHIANA

Chandigarh, March 3: Punjab today took a major stride towards becoming the country's densest civil aviation destination with the clearance of a new Greenfield International Airport near Ludhiana . This would be the third international airport in Punjab after the ones at Amritsar and Mohali, and the second to come up within a span of just 14 months.
The state government received a communication from the ministries of defense and civil aviation giving their final approval to the new project yesterday.

Disclosing this, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister said here today that clearance to this dream project "signals the entry of Punjab into a higher orbit of international air connectivity and makes Punjab one of the finest and most easily accessible tourist destinations in South Asia. This would also propel the state into the zone of high intensity international trade and commerce." He said that the economic prosperity and development of any place depended on “ports and airports.” Since Punjab is a land locked state with no access to sea, it desperately needed to open up its skies for increased air connectivity since that was the only way for it to have access to global economies.
The Aerotropolis would be built in the Private Sector by M/s. Bengal Aerotropolis and has Changi International Airport of Singapore as partner.

The Deputy Chief Minister described the setting up of two international airports within the space of just over a year in a state as small as Punjab as "totally unprecedented in the history of civil aviation in the country. This would put Punjab in league with some of the most advanced aviation zones in countries like the United States and would open up the doors to its becoming an up-market economy."

To be developed in the nature of an aerotopolis, a modern age concept of a township-oriented airport, along the Singapore-Frankfurt model, with a total fiscal lay out of Rs. 17500 crore, this would be the biggest infrastructure development project in Punjab after Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery near Bathinda and would be decisively push economic horizon of the region.

The aerotropolis, the first of its kind in the country, would come up in an area covering 3000 acres and would be the first green-field international airport in north India to be set-up in the private sector. The entire project would not only put the region between Ludhiana and Chandigarh on the high road to modern infrastructure development but would also act as one of the greatest drivers to the economy of the entire state, said Mr. Badal, adding that this would greatly off set the handicap of Punjab as a land-locked province. The state in general and its industrial hub, Ludhiana had suffered immense drag in international competition due to lack of air connectivity. The airport near Ludhiana would help it emerge as Industrial Export hub of South Asia, said the Deputy Chief Minister

PUNJAB CM WRITES GOI TO CLEAR 50 LAC MT OF WHEAT STOCK OF PUNJAB

CHANDIGARH MARCH 3, 2009

The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Centre to allocate the movement at least 11 lac Metric Tons (MT) of wheat every month through the State Procuring Agencies to avoid the storage problem that the state would otherwise be facing during the forthcoming wheat procurement operations.

Mr. Badal in a letter to the Union Agriculture, Food & Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar stated that the state had already a stock overflow amounting to 50 lac Metric Tons of wheat procured by the State Procuring Agencies last year. He impressed upon Mr. Pawar to personally intervene for urgent and speedy movement of wheat stock from Punjab to ease out storage pressure in view of the fresh arrival of Wheat in the forthcoming procurement season.
Mr. Badal also asked the Centre for the adequate supply of gunny bags. Against the indent of 2.33 lac bales placed for the months of January and February, the state had received only 85,000 bales adding Mr. Badal also requested to dispatch 1.5 lac bales by 15th March, 2009 to cope up with the shortage of gunny bags during the current Rabi procurement season.

Patiala, March 3, 2009

: Shiromani Akali Dal General Secretary and Akali-BJP alliance candidate for Patiala Lok Sabha Constituency, Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra is confident of giving a crushing defeat to Congress in the ensuing Parliamentary election as it has no poll issues to take to the electorate.

The Akali leader alleged that the Punjab Congress has always betrayed the people of the state to please their Central leadership which is inherently biased against the people of the state. Due to Congress High Command’s inimical role, Punjab has been deprived of its Capital, ownership of river waters and Punjabi speaking areas. The Congress Governments in Punjab also failed to take up long-term developmental programs for the Punjabis. Accusing them of lack of vision, the Akali leader state Congress leaders had invariably been more inclined in accumulating wealth and enjoying the loaves and fishes of office. "That is why, they have never been sincere to the electorate as their first priority is placate their masters in Delhi" he said.

Commenting on the Capt Amrinder Singh government rule , Prof. Chandumajra said its policies , in fact, put the state economy in a downward spiral which compelled the preceding Akali-BJP government to take drastic steps to extricate it from the morass.

Prof Chandumajra maintained that the Punjab Congress has no worthwhile development agenda to stir up aspirations and participation of the Punjabis. So naturally, the people are disinclined towards Congress leaders and also deserting them in hordes.

Referring to the political scene of the Patiala Constituency, Prof. Chandumajra observed that the Congress lacked election-oriented activities in the area. Over and above, the local Congress leaders are reluctant to face the people because their two-time MP, Mrs. Parneet Kaur never cared to nurture the constituency during past ten years.
"As against this, I have always been active among the farmers, employees, small traders and the common man and earnestly took up their issues in Parliament during my tenure. I, humbly claim that because of my raising issue in 11th and 12th Lok Sabha , we secured approval of river Ghaggar Project from the Centre".

Outlining his future plans, Prof. Chandumajra said his priority will be securing adequate dirinking and irrigation water supply for the people of the area. For this purpose, the existing canal network will be revamped, rain harvesting will be promoted both for irrigation and drinking water supply besides taking measures to control recurring ravage of the area by floods. Ample funds from the Central Government are needed to meet these objectives.