Punjab News- Sukhbir Badal says IT companies want to set up base in Punjab

Chandigarh, October 1, 2013: Punjab Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today declared that a number of companies from South India had assured to send delegations to Punjab to explore investment opportunities because they were under pressure from their Punjabi employees who wanted to be closer to their homes.

Interacting with the media after the completion of the Investment Summit here, the Deputy chief minister said he had been given assurances by several companies that they would like to invest in the Knowledge City in Mohali and also the Medicity and the Education City at Mullanpur. He said the State government on its part had reserved 1600 acres, 2,000 acres and 300 acres for all three projects respectively and that it could transfer land to interested entrepreneurs immediately.

Speaking about his visit to various IT and other offices, the Deputy CM said he had met a number of Punjabis all of whom told him they would like to come back to their homeland if given a choice. He said the IT companies also understood this fact and were now keen to establish their campuses in Punjab. He said Infosys was already sending a team to the State this month itself to explore the offer to become the anchor unit at the Knowledge Park in Mohali.

Speaking about the investment offers, the Deputy CM said there was an offer to establish a cluster of schools using the latest communication tools. He said companies had also evinced interest for group housing projects in Dowtown Mohali and at Ludhiana. The Deputy CM said an investment of Rs 30,480 crore had already come into Punjab in this sector and that there was scope for more investment.

Sukhbir Badal assured the media that when Punjab hosts the Progressive Punjab Investment Summit on December 9 and 10 the State would have achieved a power surplus status. He said similarly the State was on the eve of achieving the distinction of best air and road connectivity.

Asserting that all this was possible due to a decisive government led by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Deputy CM said this was the need of the hour at the centre also. He said the Congress led UPA government was likely to fall like a pack of cards after it was hit by the “Modi tsunami” in the parliamentary elections. “The Congress might well be pushed to the Maldives”, he quipped adding the NDA too would be strengthened with more allies before the elections.

Badal said for the first time ever there was clarity of thought in the country that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was the only alternative to lead the nation. “I have experienced this sentiment here during my visit to Bangalore also”, he said adding the people were fed up of the indecisiveness of the UPA government and were waiting to teach it a lesson it would never forget.