Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday warned the Centre of "serious political and law and order implications" in case it went ahead with its move to renew industrial concessions to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand without the same being given to the "far more deserving, sensitive border state of Punjab."
Badal, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sought his intervention in this matter to "save the state from further ruin and chaos by treating us on a par with neighbouring states while granting such industrial or other economic incentives."
Stating that any ruinous decision to this effect would prove to be the proverbial last straw to break Punjab's back, Badal said Punjabis, who had braved several daunting odds in the past, would find "it impossible to battle the discrimination of their own national government against them."
"The state battled the travails of Partition and heroically not only rebuilt the state but also emerged as the granary and sword arm of the nation. Our contributions in both fields have no parallels in the country. In addition, Punjabis braved the ravages caused by three wars with a hostile neighbour and have never been compensated for the huge costs they had to suffer in doing so," Badal wrote.
He pointed that the period of militancy had taken its toll on the state's economy and development, especially in the industrial sector.
{{/usCountry}}He pointed that the period of militancy had taken its toll on the state's economy and development, especially in the industrial sector.
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