Cargo flight from Amritsar to Gulf

KAPURTHALA, June 3: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said one cargo plane would fly daily to Gulf countries — Dubai, Iraq and Iran — from the Amritsar international airport by November this year to export vegetables and fruits produced in the state.

Paying rich tributes to Sant Prem Singh Muralewal on his 48th death anniversary at Begowal here this evening, he said with the export of vegetables and fruits from Punjab to Gulf countries, farmers in the state would be able to earn four to five times more profit than in the domestic market.He said that the state government has allocated Rs 600-700 crore for construction of new roads and repair of old roads during this financial year. He appealed to the people to check the quality of work themselves and bring shortcomings, if any, to the notice of the government.

He also appealed to the heads of deras and `kar sevadars’ to look after the dilapidated buildings of schools and hospitals in the state.Punjab Governor Lt Gen B K N Chibber, while paying tributes to Sant Prem Singh, said he had devoted his life to the social cause by opening schools and worked for the down-trodden.

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Union State Minister for Industries Sukhbir Singh Badal said he had asked the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) to open its unit in the state for manufacturing tractors and expressed his hope that a tractor unit would soon be set up.

SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra said Punjab was on the path of development after an end to “the misrule of Congress”.