CHANDIGARH: A prominent business house from the United Kingdom, the Sun Group, has committed Rs.1000-crore worth of investment in power, health and infrastructure projects in Punjab over the next five years. This was announced by the group's Director, Uday Khemka, on Monday when he accompanied Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the latter's ancestral village in Muktsar district.

A State Government release on the occasion said Mr. Khemka had expressed the desire to have a feel of a Punjab village to help him visualise and plan a coordinated drive to change the face of the State's countryside. It is interesting to note that the first major investment proposal before the 50-day-old Badal Government has a royal linkage as well. Mr. Khemka is the maternal grandson of Raja Ripudaman Singh who ruled over the princely State of Nabha, neighbouring Patiala.

Speaking at a brief function organised at Badal village, Mr. Khemka said his group was deeply concerned about ecology and would encourage environment-friendly development projects with power, health and education being the priority areas.

Sick unit acquired

He also disclosed that his company had already acquired the State-owned corporation PUNWIRE and had begun the process to rehabilitate the "sick" unit.

Mr. Badal said his plan for opening at least one 10+2 Adarsh school in each block to provide free education, board and lodging for poor and talented children of rural areas had been chalked out in the belief that poverty could be tackled only through empowering those who did not have access to resources. The Chief Minister put augmentation of the power sector as the "top developmental priority" of his Government. He disclosed that the Government was scouting for investments by multinational and foreign companies in power generation including hydro, thermal and bio-mass units. The Government had also invited "expression of interest" from various companies to set up a 1000 MW bio-mass power plant, while three new thermal generation facilities would be set up within five years.

Later speaking to reporters Mr. Badal said his regime was committed to fulfilling all the election promises.

Answering a question about the rationale of free power for agriculture, he said this sector was subsidised throughout the world.

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