Union Govt pursuing an anti Punjab agenda: Sidhu

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Posted online: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 03:39:36
Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 03:59:28

Chandigarh, February 27: Member Parliament and senior BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday lambasted the Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav for ignoring the vital concerns of Punjabis in the Union Railway Budget for year 2008-09 presented in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

While terming the Railway Budget as primarily Anti Punjab due to glaring discrepancies and outright ignorance of the long standing demands and requirements of the people of the state of Punjab, Sidhu lamented the fact the Lalu Prasad Yadav has most blatantly disregardedthe concerns which were of utmost importance for Punjab.

Sidhu in his statement released here on Wednesday decried, among other things, the non extension of Kolkatta-Ludhiana freight corridor up till Amritsar when allready huge investment of over Rs 500 crores is being made to develop Wagah border as import export centre.

He said that non extension of corridor would mean depriving the state of Punjab from vital benefits which could have so easily been carved out of a full fledged freight corridor connecting rest of central Asia through Wagah- Attari border Amritsar.

He criticized the railway budget for out rightly shelving the rail linkages like Patiala- Samana, Manawalan- Ferozepur and Qadian- Amritsar links which could have provided an unmatched linkage to Majha, Malwa and Doaba.

Sidhu questioned the absence of any mention of Chandigarh- Ludhiana rail link extension in Punjab.

Asserting that the Union Govt has been pursuing an anti Punjab agenda for years now, Sidhu deplored the fact that even today the rail link to the capital of Punjab i.e., Chandigarh has to pass through Ambala in Haryana.

Sidhu questioned the non provision of single rail link to Punjab since 1950 and termed the announcement of new trains and Garib-raths as a mere eyewash and gimmick with cosmetic value alone for the Punjabis.

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