International flights from Amritsar soon

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral reiterated his commitment on Friday to lighten Punjab's debt burden. He also agreed to resume international flights immediately from Amritsar's Rajasansi airport.

Addressing an all-party rally in Jalandhar, Gujral refrained from announcing a waiver of the state's Rs 47 billion debt.

He, however, assured central funding of various projects which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced at the rally.

The meeting was addressed by leaders of the ruling Akali-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition, the Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Janata Dal and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Punjab's long-standing demand for the transfer of Chandigarh to the state by Republic Day, too, was raised.

Promising to do everything possible for Punjab, the prime minister sought a commitment from the chief minister that illiteracy would be eradicated by the turn of the century.

Besides the 50 per cent funding of the Rs 800 million Science City, whose foundation stone was earlier laid by Gujral on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road, the prime minister okayed Rs 10 billion for several projects. These include a fertiliser plant in Bathinda or Sangrur district, the National Institute of Renewable Energy, the Software Technology Institute at Mohali, a medical university at Faridkot.

Gujraal also agreed to fund expansion of all state highways in Punjab and also the national highway between Jalandhar and Amritsar.

The prime minister also agreed to extend the transmission range of the Jalandhar Doordarshan Kendra to cover the entire state and set up a revolving restaurant over the television tower at Khurla Kingra adjoining the city.

After Gujral had finished his 15-minute speech, Punjab Finance Minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh, who was conducting the proceedings, announced that the prime minister had agreed to resume international flights immediately from Amritsar's Rajasansi airport.

UNI