Time to integrate Chandigarh with Punjab, says Harsimrat Badal

Lok Sabha member from Bathinda constituency Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday demanded that Chandigarh be transferred to Punjab and demanded for giving a special package to the state “for the sacrifices it had made to feed the nation.”

Lok Sabha member from Bathinda constituency Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday demanded that Chandigarh be transferred to Punjab and demanded for giving a special package to the state “for the sacrifices it had made to feed the nation.”

The Shiromani Akali Dal leader also stressed the need to extend tax benefits in border areas of the state to encourage investment. (HT file photo)

The Shiromani Akali Dal leader also stressed the need to extend tax benefits in border areas of the state to encourage investment.

Participating in the debate on the Union budget in the Parliament, she said, “each state in the country has its own capital city which contributes 30 to 40% to its GDP, but Punjab is the only state which did not have its own capital and demanded the situation be resolved”.

Badal said Punjab was also suffering because the Centre had withheld accumulated Rural Development Fund of ₹3,000 crore and was “blackmailing” Punjab to reduce its tax if it wanted access to the RDF. She also demanded that special tax incentives be given to industries setting up units in the border belt of the state and called for continuation of Goods and Services Tax compensation to Punjab.