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Punjab back on the rails: Manmohan

Sarabjit Pandher

Prime Minister seeks another term for Congress Government to accelerate development

A MEANINGFUL SMILE: Congress candidate for Amritsar Parliamentary by-poll Surendra Singla seeking blessings from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a rally in the holy town on Monday. The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, Ashwini Kumar, looks on. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

AMRITSAR: Returning to his home turf to campaign for the party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to the people of Punjab on Monday to give another term to the Congress so that the rate of development could be accelerated to a level where the State regains its numero uno position in the country.

Dr. Singh was addressing a responsive gathering in this holy city as part of his two-day schedule to canvass for party candidates in Punjab, where polling for the 117-member Assembly and the lone by-election for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat is slated for February 13.

While he addressed another rally in Jalandhar on Monday, the Prime Minister is scheduled to canvass for the party in Patiala and Ludhiana on Tuesday.

Sporting a sky blue turban, Dr. Singh accepted "siropas" (robes of honour) from the Mayor and officer bearers of the Amritsar district unit of the Congress.

He later introduced and blessed the Congress candidates for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and Assembly constituencies falling in the revenue districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran.

Commending the efforts put in by the State Government, especially by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, in reviving the shattered economy and putting the development process back on the rails, the Prime Minister said Punjab needed a government that would ensure proper co-operation and co-ordination with the Centre. He said that while much of the ground had been covered, a lot more was required so that the state could ensure an enviable position in the world economy.

In his address, which was regularly interrupted by supporters raising slogans and waving party flags, Dr. Singh praised Capt. Singh for his modern mind and futuristic vision that had reversed the mindset of the investors, who now preferred to put up projects in the State which suffered adversely during terrorism. He said Finance Minister Surinder Singla, who is contesting the Lok Sabha seat from Amritsar, had consolidated the financial condition of the State, which stood in a shambles after the previous Akali-BJP regime.

Second green revolution

The Prime Minister said Punjab required a second edition of the Green Revolution wherein, protecting the food security needs of country, the farmers also get a better deal through remunerative prices for their produce and liberation from the crippling debt burden. He said that understanding this requirement, the Union Government in its last budget, sanctioned a Rs. 100-crore grant for Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) for research.

Dr. Singh said it was his dream that Amritsar and other border areas should benefit from the improvement in Indo-Pak relations which had been pursued by the UPA Government. It was his desire to see that Amritsar develops as a centre from where goods are not only conveyed to Pakistan but to entire Central Asia. He also proposed to extend the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission to every urban centre of the State.

In his address, Capt. Singh said that as compared to a meagre grant of Rs. 50 crore during the NDA regime at the Centre, the present government led by Dr. Singh had cleared projects worth Rs 22,000 crore in just two-and-a-half years. He said such had been the pace of development in the State that the Shiromani Akali Dal had been forced to give up its traditional "Panthic agenda".

Capt. Singh said that through their retrogressive political programmes, especially the quest for the Anandpur Sahib resolution, the Akalis had pushed Punjab back by at least a quarter of a century.

"On the other hand, the Congress in the last five years had ensured an investment of Rs 1.18 lakh crore, which would provide employment to about 20 lakh people." He said that in case the Congress was voted back to power it would get investment worth Rs. 300,000 crore and jobs for another 40 lakh.

Amid cheers and slogans, Capt. Singh said the next Congress government would ensure that Punjab is placed in such an orbit of growth and prosperity from where it would never slip back.

The president of the State unit of the Congress, Shamsher Singh Dullo, and Mr. Singla also spoke on the occasion.

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