"We are in fact keen on any such proposals from all central ministries. In fact, we have been begging for it," Badal said in a statement here.
He was responding to a statement by Union Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal which said that the central government was ready to set up railways industries in Punjab if the state government facilitated land for the purpose.
Badal said, "It will be a great news if at all the centre sticks to it. We will follow it through with the railways ministry also. I will personally write to and meet Bansal in this regard," he said.
The chief minister said that the SAD-BJP government have been pressing for more central projects in the state but all the pleas have gone unheard in the past.
He said that there is an urgent need for setting up agro-based industries also in the state.
"With the prospects of expansion in international trade with Pakistan and the rest of the world through the Attari-Wagha border land route, we would certainly need more and more units to diversify our economy," Badal said.
The chief minister asked the Centre to give a push to agri-value addition, so that the farmers can break away from the paddy-wheat rotation and the state's economy could branch out into fresh business zones.