Punjab has always stood against external intrusions andhence must be considered as a security case, not just as an economic case atthe time of budgetary allocation, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badalsaid here on Tuesday.
Badal made the demand during a virtual discussion withUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on stepping up investment,infrastructure and growth in the country.
While strongly recommending special packages to wean awaythe agrarian state to industries, the Finance Minister apprised the Unionminister that the land-locked state also deserves special packages on a parwith its neighbouring states such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir andUttarakhand, saying that biological chain of Punjab is very strong and itspeople are very hard working.
"Let not the geography of Punjab define its futureas the state fought for the nation in 1947, 1962, 1965 and 1971, besides the 10years war against terrorism which was sponsored by "our friends"across the border, added Badal.
Punjab needs some nourishment from the Centre as thestate is facing new age challenges in transition of agriculture, the FinanceMinister said while urging the Union Finance Minister to come out with someschemes, which was given to industry so that Punjab can successfully migrate toother crops or animal husbandry from two crop pattern.
It will not only increase the income of the farmers butalso help in conservation of groundwater and solve the problem of stubbleburning which is again a burning issue in the country.
Badal sought the allotment of a pharma park, a food parkand a textile park for Punjab, which will act as a game changing step for thestate.
As far as power generation is concerned, Badal saidPunjab is the farthest destination from coal mines and actually "we wantto switch from fossil fuels into either solar or gas if possible. If we cansomehow retire our coal-fired power stations, power will become cheap in thestate."
He said Punjab has very good infrastructure in terms oflogistics and everything but there are missing links in railways, including atPatti and Makhu, Rajpura and Mohali, and Beas and Qaddian.
"You will be presenting a railway budget with theUnion budget, if these links of just 20-30 km can find favour in your budget,Punjab would be very well placed in terms of Railways and travelers won't haveto make round trips to Ambala to get to Rajasthan or Gujarat," said Badal.
Urging to look for options to provide services to thecitizens at their doorsteps using technology, he urged the Union FinanceMinister to ask the Union Health Minister to start the National Institute ofVirology as soon as possible.