JALANDHAR Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, British Parliament Member, on Friday met Sanjeev Arora, Industry & Commerce, Investment Promotion, and NRI Affairs, Punjab at Jalandhar. They were both given a warm welcome by Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Himanshu Aggarwal and Paramjit Singh Raipur, SGPC Executive Committee member and former Chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust. Dhesi, who was elected for a third term in the UK as MP for the Slough constituency, was also elected by the British Parliament as Chairman of the Defence Committee. It is the first time any ethnic minority member has been elected to serve in that position in this influential, powerful Parliamentary committee. The hour-long meeting covered various issues of importance to Non-Resident Indians, especially land disputes and seizure matters, which were a cause of huge concern. In addition to this, 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 state government, which overseas Punjabis could rely on to cover concerns, but also for businesspeople 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 the holy city of Amritsar and the capital city of 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 activities. 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 the 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 pray for Punjab’s progress. He hoped that the matters raised would be taken seriously by the Punjab Government and relevant authorities in India.