Focus areas

24-hour electricity supply Developing 3 airports Medical tourism

Chandigarh, May 9
Unveiling a plan for developing Punjab and signifying a shift from the traditional agenda of Akali-politics, SAD working president Sukhbir Singh Badal today projected a Rs 35,000-crore economic plan that promises to propel the state forward in the next three to five years.

Sukhbir Badal, holding his first formal press conference to outline the vision of the SAD since taking over as the working president, laid stress on providing 24-hour power supply, developing three airports, using medical tourism to boost finance and provide career opportunities for youth.

He outlined an aggressive plan to add 6,000 MW power in the next three and half years by setting up projects at coal pit heads and ports. The state will liberalise the policy to allow industrial units to develop captive as well as co-generation plants and open access to power outside. “Every house, every tube well and every business and industrial unit in the state will get 24-hour uninterrupted power supply in the next three and half years, said Badal. The state will become power surplus by 2010, he claimed.

The state government had planned a state-of-the-art Mohali International Airport. This will be civil terminal attached with the defence airfield at Chandigarh. The new terminal will be in Mohali that abuts the airfield. This project will be carried out with the help of private participation and expressed confidence that “the Central government will clear it despite the airfield being with the defence authorities”.

Five new pilot and cabin crew training schools would be set up, one each at Amritsar, Bathinda, Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Over 1,000 students will pass out from these centres every year and there are plans to increase this number to 1,500 students later. Right now, there is a shortage of 5,000 trained pilots in the domestic sector alone and this demand is likely to go up to 10, 000 pilots in the next three years.

He said the government had agreed in principle to implement the SAD's manifesto that promised to declare medicare an industry. In addition, steps would be taken to turn the state into a global hub for medical tourism. The government was already in touch with the leading players in the field like Hindujas, Tatas, Ranbaxy, Escorts, Fortis and Apollo and they were keen to collaborate with the state government for modernising health care services in the state.