Jalandhar: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP met Sanjeev Arora, Punjab Cabinet Minister of Industry & Commerce, Investment Promotion and NRI Affairs here in Jalandhar. They were both given a warm welcome by Jalandhar DC Himanshu Aggarwal and Paramjit Singh Raipur, SGPC member for Adampur and SGPC Executive Committee member, who previously served as Chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust and is uncle of MP Dhesi.
Dhesi, who was elected for a third term in the UK as Member of Parliament for Slough, was also elected last year by the British Parliament as Chairman of the Defence Committee. It is the first time any ethnic minority has been elected to serve in that role in this influential, powerful Parliamentary committee.
The hour-long meeting covered various issues of importance to Non-Resident Indians, especially land dispute and seizure matters, which was a cause of huge concern. Extortion demands also came up as a problem, which needed to be dealt with to ensure people’s safety. Dhesi wished for an effective one-window system from the government, which overseas Punjabis could rely on to cover concerns, but also for business people seeking to invest in the Punjab so that they could avoid cumbersome bureaucracy.
MP Dhesi once again raised the issue of the need for more direct flights to Amritsar and Chandigarh, particularly from London, Birmingham and other European destinations; North America and Asia. This would help connect global Punjabis and tourists directly with the Punjab, while also increasing trade. Given the millions of diaspora Punjabis, Dhesi hoped that the Punjab could emerge as a major power in the aviation sector, and therefore requested for investment and political support from both the Indian and Punjab Governments to help make it happen.
It was noted that the International Cargo Port in Amritsar, which had been closed after recent Indo-Pak tensions, needed to be reopened. Better relations and increased trade between India and Pakistan would of course benefit both nations, but in particular Punjabis. Dhesi also requested that pressure be applied to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor. That was important to the Sikh community, as were other long-pending emotive issues such as the release of political prisoners who had served their sentences and the case of the British national Jagtar Singh Johal.
Dhesi emphasised that people of Punjabi heritage across the globe like him have the desire to deepen ties and prayed for Punjab’s progress. He hoped that the matters raised would be taken seriously by the Punjab Government and relevant authorities in India.
