Badal Lends his Support to Punjabi NRI’s

Lending his helping hand to the Punjabi NRI’s, Punjab Chief Minister,
Prakash Singh Badal announced an 11-member advisory committee to be
set up to advice the government on issues relating to NRI welfare.

Addressing at the concluding ceremony of NRI Sammelan, Mr Badal said
seven-eight members would be NRIs from countries having a fairly large
population of Punjabis. The remaining members would be senior civil
servants.

The committee will help the government to evolve a mechanism for the
quick disposal of pending property, matrimonial and other disputes.

He furhthur disclosed the governments plan to set up NRI police stations
in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr Moga and Ludhiana for
quick disposal of cases involving NRIs.

He also announced the setting up of a committee headed by the director
general of police and SSPs to review cases of NRIs declared offenders
or absconders.
About 1,300 such cases would be processed in two months, Mr Badal said.
Despite the problems back home, Mr Badal called upon the NRIs to play
a pro-active role to bridge the communication gap between the state
government and the Punjabis settled across the globe.

The minister requested NRIs to participate in the state government’s
scheme for 75:25 matching grants for investment in development projects.

He urged the guests to set up schools for Non-Residential Indians in
the state, on equal cost-sharing basis, to help the second and third
generation progeny of NRIs forge ties with their Punjabi roots.

He further revealed that the NRI sammelan would be held twice a year,
once in India and once abroad. Four segments ~ the USA-Canada, Europe,
Australia and the Gulf ~ have been identified for the sammelan.

Photo: Kudankulam 04710085 (8386517520) by Petr Pavlicek/IAEA Imagebank, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.