Announcing several incentives for the NRIs, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday announced a new investment policy of the State with special focus on the NRIs, preferential allotment to NRIs in Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA ) colonies and industrial estates, among other steps.
Accompanied by NRI Affairs Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Sukhbir reviewed the implementations of the decisions taken in the NRI sammelan earlier this year besides giving final touches to holistic plan.
Sukhbir said that under the new housing policy and investment policy, Punjab has set aside 10 per cent quota for NRIs in all PUDA approved schemes and industrial estates besides setting up a separate link for fast track approval in the industrial investment portal.
Impressing upon the need for taking care of the families of NRIs to give them emotional support, Sukhbir said that he has issued directions to increase the number of marriage registration officers from registered 22 to 190 to expedite the registration of their marriages, considering the limited time available to them during their stay in the country.
He further added that earlier only district revenue officers (DROs) were empowered to register the marriages, but now the powers have been delegated to all Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars.
“Directions have been issued to all field officers to be accessible to NRIs and perform their job on priority,” he added.
Describing compulsory registration of marriages and Human Smuggling Acts as path breaking acts, Sukhbir said: “With compulsory marriage registration act, we will be able to tackle fraudulent marriages by NRIs. And with Human Smuggling Act, we would be able to tackle the menace of illegal travel agents playing with the lives and hard-earned money of Punjabi youth, who were being lured to foreign lands on illegal permits.”
Majithia informed the Deputy Chief Minister that Punjab Government was in the process of taking a decision, in which an NRI can get tenant evicted from multiple properties, multiple times.
He said that earlier he was allowed only once for a single property. He informed that similar amendment was also being effected for rural properties also.
Also meeting the long pending demands of NRIs to guard their properties in Punjab, Majithia informed that a Punjab Government Undertaking — Punjab Ex Servicemen Corporation (PESCO) — would supply professionally trained ex-servicemen guards for this purpose on a nominal payment.
It was informed that one more NRI Police Station has been opened in NRI dominant districts including Amritsar. He said that instructions have already been issue to seek approval of DSP before registering any FIR against NRI to check bogus complaints.
Home Department informed that the Punjab and Haryana High Court has been requested to setup three Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Courts at Moga, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, and an Appellate Court at Jalandhar for civil and criminal cases of NRIs and requisite funds have been provided for the same.
Asking the GMADA to finalise the blueprint of NRI Bhawan at Mohali, Sukhbir said that he would be laying the foundation stone of Bhawan in July.