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Punjab budget: Chandigarh airport to get air cargo facility
While presenting the 2020-21 budget, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the air cargo facility will give a fillip to the industry and provide exporters better access to international and domestic markets
Conceding to a long-pending demand by the local industry, the Punjab government on Friday announced an air cargo facility at the Chandigarh International Airport.
While presenting the 2020-21 budget, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the air cargo facility will give a fillip to the industry and provide exporters better access to international and domestic markets.
Sanjeev Vashisht, former president of the Mohali Industries Association and a member of the advisory committee of the Airport Authority of India, said, “The cargo facility is the need of the hour, as currently, exporters need to send consignments by road to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. There, the freight is lined up for 24 to 48 hours before being loaded in aircraft. A cargo facility closer home will save time, effort and money. Besides, it will promote ease-of-doing-business.”
The minister also announced ₹157 crore for the construction of Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Phase 6. Construction is already underway, with the government hoping to start classes from August 2020.
The project was sanctioned in 2012, to be funded 60:40 between the central and state governments. Coming up at the existing civil hospital in Phase 6, the college will start with 100 MBBS seats and eventually grow to 220. The entire cost of the project was worked out at ₹300 crore, excluding the existing infrastructure and land.
The government is also planning to set up an Agriculture Marketing Innovation Research and Intelligence Centre (AMIRIC) at Mohali under the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana.
Badal allocated ₹10 crore as a one-time corpus grant for the project. The centre will work in close collaboration with various district departments to provide marketing intelligence to farmers, which will assist them in better area production planning and empower them with information to enhance income.
