Even as the Punjab government looks eagerly towards NRI investment to boost the state economy, the annual NRI convention organised by the NRI Sabha here on Friday turned out to be a disappointment. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal failed to attend the convention, though he was to inaugurate it and so did his son, Sukhbir Badal, who was to preside over it. Sukhbir, who was in Jalandhar today, attended a wedding quite close to the venue of the convention and also visited the PAP shooting range, but did not turn up for the event.NRIs expressed disappointment over their absence, saying that their attitude reflected their seriousness about NRI issues, in spite of tall claims by the government.With 12,000 NRI as members, the fact that not more than a thousand attended was a blow to the organisers too.Virendra Sharma, an MP from UK, said it was “shocking” that Badal did not turn up, even when the date of the convention was fixed according to his convenience. He said the CM had failed to keep the promises he made at the last convention. “I know of almost 500 cases of NRIs which have not been solved till date, though the government has opened special NRI police stations,” he said.Karam Singh, an NRI who hails from Ludhiana, said he has been fighting a property case for the past 12 years but the NRI Sabha has done nothing to help him.One of the speakers, Harry Lalli, MLA from British Columbia, Canada, blamed the “endless red-tapism” for delaying his plan to bring a transport project worth Rs 80 crore to the state. “ It took two and half years to get approval for the project,” he said, embarrassing SAD secretary general and former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who was sitting right in front of the stage.The convention also witnessed a tiff among the members over a proposal to increase the tenure of the president of the Sabha from two years to five. Slogans were raised against the proposed amendment in the Sabha’s constitution and many NRIs left the venue in protest. However, Sabha president Kamaljit Hayer said the resolution for the amendment had been passed even as chief patron of the Sabha and SAD MLA S.S. Rakhra termed the amendment “null and void”.Last night, too, some members had come to blows at a dinner hosted for NRIs at a local hotel, in front of Punjab Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Avinash Chander, whose gunmen had to control the situation.
