Trade centre remains a distant dream

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 25

Though announced nine years ago, a permanent convention centre in the holy city to facilitate trade fairs is still a distant dream.

A resident, Pawandeep Sharma, said the then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in 2010 had announced to set up a permanent convention centre in the city to facilitate trade fairs. However, no progress is visible at the grassroots level.

The then Deputy Chief Minister had made a promise on the concluding day of the fifth edition of Punjab international Trade EXPO (PITEX) on December 14, 2010.

The permanent convention centre would be akin to Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.

He said Sukhbir had even asserted that, “Places like Frankfurt (Germany) and Dubai (UAE) are thriving only on the basis of being major centers of trade expos. We want to develop our cities on those lines. Amritsar, some 230 km from Chandigarh, and Mohali, some 10 km from Chandigarh, will get permanent convention centres.”

Trade fairs of national and international levels are exhibited here annually. Then temporary arrangements are made which cost much, but have to be undone to return the land to its original owner.

A leading industrialist, Kamal Dalmia, said the then Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa in the 2013 Budget had announced the establishment of a world-class trade centre in Amritsar to meet the long-pending demands of the city-based manufacturers, importers and exporters.

Subsequently, a plan was unveiled to set up an integrated trade centre-cum-commercial-cum-residential and recreational complex at the Central Jail, which is spread over an area of 109 acres.

For this purpose, a site at the Central Jail on the Airport road was found to be suitable and the jail was shifted to Fatahpur village on the Chabhal road.

He said it was the biggest drawback of successive governments that they took long time to deliver their promises.