In what is seen as an attempt to strengthen ties, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday met his Haryana counterpart Manohar lal Khattar at his residence here and held detailed discussion to increase cooperation between the two States in the areas of agriculture, tourism and road connectivity.
A spokesperson of the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office described this meeting as a courtesy call to respond to Khattar’s personal invitation to Badal.
During the informal interaction, both the Chief Ministers agreed to support and cooperate to further intensify their efforts for promotion and diversification of agriculture in Haryana and Punjab. Khattar informed Badal that Haryana has a Mushroom Research and Development Centre at Sonipat and Centre of Excellence for citrus fruits at Sirsa. The farmers of Punjab could get the benefit of experience of Haryana in these sectors, said he.
Haryana Chief Minister said that today, the production is being affected thus both the states should work together and take initiatives to increase their income. Badal apprised Khattar that Punjab is leading state in the country in fish production.
During the meeting, Khattar and Badal agreed for widening of Ambala-Banur road for better connectivity to new international airport terminal.
Both the Chief Ministers also reached to a common opinion for construction of underpass to link the old terminal with the new for easier access to Chandigarh and Panchkula.
The Haryana CM also stressed the need to promote tourism in states of Haryana, Punjab upto Himachal. He said that this would help in developing a tourism circuit from Kurukshetra-Amritsar upto Himachal and attract both Indian and foreign tourists thus giving a boost to the tourism in a big way.
Earlier, Khattar and his Cabinet colleagues gave a rousing welcome to Badal by offering him bouquets.
On the occasion, Punjab Chief Minister inspected a guard of Honour and took salute from a contingent of Haryana Armed Police led by its Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ajit Singh. Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal, Haryana Cabinet Ministers Anil Vij, Om Prakash Dhankhar, Kavita Jain, Abhimanyu and Rao Narbir Singh.
Notably, with the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, dispute over various issues, including river waters, have time and again erupted between Punjab and Haryana.
Chandigarh, a union territory, is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana since November 1, 1966 and both the states have been staking claim to the city as their capital.
Another contentious issue of SYl canal has remained unresolved over the years. The neighboring State Governments of Punjab and Haryana have time and again also raised the issue of maintenance of 60:40 ratio in the posts of the UT Administration.