Admn reforms: Report next week

Kashyap said the Punjab Government has already set up a Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and has decided to levy infrastructure cess for mopping up Rs 50 crore.

He admitted that the government could not spare more than Rs 1000 crore on infrastructure out of the planned budget of Rs 2,500 crore. The requirement against infrastructure was Rs 5,000 crore a year, as per the Indian Infrastructure Report, 1996, he said. Admitting a resource crunch in the state, Kashyap said this was also due to the additional Rs 800 crore the government had to shell out for implementing the Fourth Pay Commission Report.

He said loans or direct investment and joint ventures with foreign investors could give a boost to the economy of the state. Kashyap said Badal had demanded from the prime minister, the setting up of an international airport in Punjab towards this end. He said the chief minister had conveyed to the PM that the proposed Jammu-Kanyakumari super-highway would go a long way in strengthening the economy of Punjab.

Saying that the small savings movement would be given a greater thrust in the state, Kashyap said the government would on its own cost equip the post offices in the state with added infrastructure to create a favourable environment for small saving investors.The target set by the Punjab Government for small savings for the current year was Rs 2000 crore, he said, adding that the small saving movement had gained momentum following removal of government controls.

Kashyap said all the deputy commissioners had been asked to make lists of post offices in their region which needed a facelift.

Later, Kashyap chaired a meeting of five deputy commissioners of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Hoshairpur and Kapurthala and the divisional commissioner, Jalandhar to remove bottlenecks in the small savings scheme. Post Master General, Punjab, Col. Tilak Raj also attended the meeting.