By Gurmukh Singh

Toronto: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who wound up his visit to North America here on Monday, pitched his state as an investment destination to Canadians by citing its `unique character’ in India.

At a lunch reception hosted here in his honour by the Canada-India Foundation (CIF), Khattar used the dudh-dahi analogy to woo investors. “Canada and Haryana have two things in common and in abundance: dudh (milk) and dahi (yogurt) – and the two must also come together in other areas. We are making it much easier to invest in Haryana,” the chief minister said.

Khattar and his team emphasized that their newly announced new enterprise promotion policy will create a `single roof’ clearance policy for investors and the chief minister will personally supervise it.

Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an upswing in Canada-India relations by visiting Canada in April, Khattar said Haryana would welcome Canadian investment in education, infrastructure, defence, medical education, aerospace and other areas.

“In 1893, one Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) landed in Vancouver (before he went to Chicago to deliver his famous speech), and 122 years later another Narendra came here and made a huge difference to our bilateral relations,” the Haryana CM said.

State Industry Minister Abhimanyu Sindhu highlighted the changed climate in Haryana since the BJP took over 10 months ago and invited investors to take advantage of it.

The chief minister saw the signing of a MoU between Canada’s Algonquin College and Haryana. Well-known clean energy scientist Dr Lucky Lakshmanan presented a set of books on his personal friend Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to the Haryana CM.

Canada-India Foundation president Ajit Someshwar, hosting the CM, highlighted public policy initiatives by the foundation which have brought India and Canada closer after decades of uneasy relations.

Earlier, a traditional Haryanvi pagri reception was accorded to Khattar on arrival in Toronto on Sunday where Haryanvi NRIs also gave him a 13-point charter of demands.

“In the charter, we demanded that the CM introduce a state NRI card on the lines of Gujarat and create an NRI/PIO department on the lines of Punjab. Haryana NRIs want guarantees of security about their properties. The chief minister was very sympathetic. We accorded a first public reception to any Haryana CM here in a typically Haryanvi style. Khatter and Capt Abhimanyu had a traditional pagri ceremony, and there was Haryanavi folk music and dance,” said Dr Azad K. Kaushik of the Oversees Friends of BJP and Friends of Haryana in Canada.