Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said the Punjabi spirit of ‘koyi gal nahin’ (no worries) causing people to delay going for testing and treatment of COVID-19 was a cause for worry.
While this was a nice spirit, it could prove to be detrimental in certain instances, as amid the pandemic, he said, adding that he had conveyed as much earlier in the day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi too.
The higher than Haryana mortality rate of Punjab was due to this attitude, which led people to delay going to the hospital till it became inevitable, he added.
He was addressing a virtual meeting with top industry leaders across the country as part of a day-long brainstorming conference, steered by Chandigarh University Chancellor Satnam Singh Sandhu.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he wanted the state to lead in both, industry and agriculture, to put it on the path to future progress.
The chief minister thanked Chandigarh University for being among the first to come forward during the pandemic crisis to offer their premises for conversion into a 1000-bed Covid Care Centre, and to distribute sanitisers, masks and other essentials.
The chief minister desired to kickstart the process of the transformation within his lifetime so that the future generations in the state could be secure.
Inviting the industry stalwarts to visit Punjab and gauge for themselves the conducive industrial climate created by his government, Capt Amarinder cited the state’s business friendly policies, seamless connectivity, high-end infrastructure, skilled labour, along with reputed educational institutions offering excellent placement opportunities with focus on skill development as some of the key factors making it an ideal investment destination.
Capt Amarinder lamented that the Akali politics had cost Punjab its industrial belt by pushing for state’s reorganisation in their bid to create a Sikh dominated state through the Punjab Suba Movement. Further, he said the water crisis had impacted agriculture too, putting the state in a difficult situation.
With agriculture not sustainable any longer due to the depleting ground water table, his government had gone into an overdrive to boost industrial development, he said, adding that the new rules allowing deferred clearance for industry would facilitate growth in this area.
There is a lot of interest in Punjab, with the various incentives and policies, including power at Rs 5/unit, attractive potential investment, said the chief minister.
With investments worth Rs 65,000 crore secured on ground in the past three years, and with four mega industrial parks coming up, Punjab has already proved itself as offering attractive investment potential for large corporates, he added.
Even during Covid, the state has received investment of about Rs 2500 crore, he disclosed, adding that migrants were returning in large numbers since the lifting of the lockdown and 2.34 lakh units in Ludhiana were already operational.
This, he said, showed that the state and its industry had always looked after the migrant labourers and the absence of strikes, truck unions etc were further encouraging industry to come in large numbers.
To revive industrial growth and economy in the post-Covid era, the state government had appointed a high-level expert committee headed by leading economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia to formulate short and medium term action plans, the chief minister informed the meeting.
