AMRITSAR, May 26: Union Minister of State for Industry Sukhbir Singh Badal today said he was trying to persuade multinational companies to invest in Punjab which had the best industrial environment in the country.Talking to newsmen here, he said Punjab was the most peaceful state in North India and representatives of many foreign companies had met him during the past few weeks to assure investment in India after the nuclear tests.Badal said he was in touch with the state government to prepare an attractive package basically to market the state throughout the country and abroad. He said the package was likely to be announced within the next 15 days.Badal said construction work of an oil refinery near Bathinda would begin shortly and it will give a major fillip to the state's economy. He said the Rs 12,500 crore project would generate auxillory production of about Rs 10,000 crore anually and employment to thousands of local youth.He said of the 48 public sector undertakings under him, 33 are running in loss. His main emphasis, Sukhbir said, will be to restructure the PSUs to recover the losses. He said he was trying to streamline the working of the ministry to make clearance of files time-bound. Sukhbir said he was astonished to see certain files lying pending for over two-and-a-half years for changing technology of PSUs.Sukhbir said he had requested Apollo hospitals to open a hi-tech hospital in Punjab for which the state government may also extend liberal help. He said there was need for specialised health services as PGI and CMC were not able to provide available facilities to large sections.The Minister said that pollution was another major concern of the Centre and state governments. He told industrialists not to play with the lives of people and take anti-pollution measures.Later, addressing an election meeting at Sangna, near here, Sukhbir censured Congress for making India one of the poorest countries in the world during its reign.
