The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), northern region, has recommended a push for industrial infrastructure, power, health and education in the Punjab Budget 2012-13, to be presented in the assembly on Wednesday.

Chairman, CII Punjab state council and MD, International Tractors Ltd, Deepak Mittal, said that "the government should take a judicious view of subsidies to reduce deficit. This would help improve the state's economy to a great extent and reduce the burden on state's exchequer."

Vice-chairman, CII Punjab state council and director, Vardhman Textiles Ltd, D L Sharma, was of the view that "allocation of funds for maintenance of industrial infrastructure is imperative for industrial growth, without which the industry can't grow."

Immediate past chairperson, CII Punjab state council and director, GDPA Fasteners, Kamna Raj Aggarwalla, felt that "priority needs to be accorded to health and education sectors in the budget since these are going to be most crucial in coming times".

Co-convenor, CII Punjab agri and water panel, B S Sangha, hoped that the government would come up with schemes for food processing and cold chains to prevent wastage of agriculture produce.

Regional director, CII northern region, Pikender Pal Singh shared that "Apart from adequate funding for timely execution of power projects in Punjab, allocation is also needed towards strengthening transmission and distribution systems to reduce T&D losses". This would alleviate the power crisis in the state and hence help the industry, he added.