Cooperate, PM tells Punjab, Haryana

Ruchika M Khanna & Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 11

The City Beautiful could have woken up today to a flying start with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the international airport. Instead, roads were blocked and schools were closed, prompting the PM to apologise and order an inquiry as to how it turned out to be such a punishing day being weighed down by a VVIP visit.

The PM appeared particularly chafed at schools’ closure for the day. In a tweet, right after addressing a public rally at Rally Grounds, Modi said: “An inquiry will be held and responsibility will be fixed… the closing of schools was totally avoidable.” A long caravan of hired school buses was evidence enough of the crowd-pulling exercise for the PM’s visit.

The rally was full with the usual colour of speeches as well as boisterous expressions of inter-state cooperation, something that Haryana and Punjab chief ministers usually lack when they talk about Chandigarh and river water sharing. The PM did speak about the spirit, and the limit, of accommodation. “Regional growth comes through cooperation among states,” he said, recalling at the same breath the parliamentary logjam, blaming “40 MPs for stalling the development of the country.”

Modi, on his maiden visit to the city after assuming office, failed to address any concerns of Punjab, Haryana or Chandigarh. Instead, he cited cultural, historic and social similarities in the region to send across the message that time for “regional growth had come through cooperation between different states”.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar acknowledged that cooperation was needed for common regional gains.

Soon after his arrival here, Modi inaugurated the international terminal of the civil airport, which is yet to be named amidst a standoff between Punjab and Haryana.

At the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), the PM presided over the 34th convocation and expressed concern over brain drain in the medical fraternity.

At the Rally Grounds in Sector 25, he handed over the keys to newly constructed houses of the Chandigarh Housing Board.

Badal, in his address, urged the Prime Minister to address the agrarian crisis in Punjab. Khattar raised the need for another airport in Haryana (at Hisar) and developing the flora-rich lower Shivalik belt as a centre for naturotherapy. Modi said he believed in “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” and therefore, after having implemented the “one rank, one pension” scheme, he would consider doing something for the farmers.

He said he met some farm scientists, who updated him on ethanol extraction from maize, which could help Punjab farmers. The cargo bay at the new airport terminal, with facility to store and export agriculture produce, would help boost the economies of Punjab, Haryana, HP and J&K, he said. The PM  was critical of the Congress for not letting Parliament function and stalling the passage of key legislations.

“Forty MPs are working against the will of the people and their 400 other representatives. Is it fair? If issues cannot be decided in Parliament, we will take them to the ‘jan sabha’ and make MPs answerable to the public,” he said, adding the people would not spare the Congress for stalling development. The Congress never tried to implement OROP, while he ensured its implementation within a year of assuming office, he said. Modi asked the Chandigarh Administration to get out of the time warp by working towards making Chandigarh a smart city instead of focusing on “lal dora” (periphery) expansion. 

Badal’s call for sops

Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal praised Modi for initiating cooperative federalism by bringing in the Niti Aayog. On sops, Badal said: “Bin maange moti mile, maange mile na bheekh” while highlighting that Punjab got heritage city status for Amritsar without having asked for it

Punjab a ‘Big Brother’

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar referred to Punjab as his state's ‘Big Brother’, while exhorting the Punjab Chief Minster to cooperate with Haryana for uniform regional growth