Phagwara: Minister of Small Business and Enterpreneurship, Ontario, Canada, Harinder Singh Takhar had asserted that there was no racial discrimination in Canada and that Punjabis, and for that matter, Indians settled there, had all the opportunities to progress and prosper.

Talking to newsmen at the residence of his classmate Prof Ashok Chadha here lastnight, Takhar, who had come to attend the just-concluded two-day NRI Sammelan organised by Punjab government maintained that about one hundred languages were taught in Canada and Punjabi language occupied a place of pride among these.

He claimed that there was great potential for NRIs, especially Punjabis settled in Canada, to invest in their home state, Punjab in the fields of industry,  automobiles, food processing and agri-products.

"The weak infrastructure and the retrograde bureaucracy notwithstanding, there was a considerable progress and development in Punjab," he remarked in reply to a question.

"Even though the development in infrastructure was not upto the desiresd level, yet there was quiet a good progress and development on this front too", he remarked. "This development impressed NRIs", he admitted.

He said that NRIs, especially Punjabis, had lot of interests in investing in Punjab.

Commenting on the new generation of Punjabis in Canada, Takhar said that present generation had no penchant for saving but plumed to live in Canadian lifestyle.

Besides Prof Chadha, former Nagar Council President Malkiat Singh Ragbotra were among those who welcomed Takhar.

The Canadian Minister belonged to village Rawalpindi falling in Phagwara Sub-division. He had studied in a Phagwara college before settling in
Canada.

Source : PTI